Fallen Angel
by Kira Tamamiko
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome have a fight, as usual, and Kagome storms away to cool off. While alone, it is then that Naraku's plan unfolds and Kagome is attacked. Though she survives, her world and the lives of so many others are changed as well.
1. Prologue

**A/N**This is the second fanfic I have ever written and my first on . I truly hope that you enjoy reading this. You can also find this story under my account on 'A Single Spark' under my author name of Kira. Also, all reviews (praises or criticizing) are welcomed! Now, on with the story!

**Fallen Angel**

The chilled wind made its way across the land, the only true sign of winter's swift coming to the lands of the Feudal Era. The trees were barren of leaves; those that had fallen to the ground were now decayed and gone. Winter had been slow to coming, which allowed more time to prepare for its harshness, but now it was going to come with a vengeance.

Kagome walked the path from the well to the village where Kaede resided. She knew the village well now and had the respect of many. After she had dived into the water to save the boy, the villagers had taken a kindness and respect towards her. She had even taken the time to teach a few of the younger kids to swim to the amazement of their parents.

The breeze made its way to Kagome, sending her hair flailing behind her. Kagome lifted her face to the wind, closing her eyes and feeling much apart of the winter to come. She let her head fall with a sigh as the wind died down and continued her walk to the village.

She saw the villagers as she walked by. The men were about preparing for the winter that was soon to come. It would be a harsh winter, Kagome could sense it. She watched as some of the men went fishing, storing the fish during the winter to provide for food.

Others were cutting down trees in the forests and preparing mounds of firewood that would be to everyone's use. Some were gathering water into bins that would be warmed near the fires. That way there water supply would be inside the home and they would not lose heat by having to open the doors as much. A few men were missing, gone hunting for extra stores of meat to supply many families within the village.

The women of the village were busy storing the meats, making sure everything was in order, clothes were being made, and everything was nice and clean and ready for use during the winter months. _The women probably have a harder time then the men...I can't imagine having to hand sew all those clothes._

Kaede had done her gathering of herbs earlier. Kagome had helped her stock pile the herbs, she even brought a big case for Kaede so she could store the herbs separately and label each of them for easy finding. Kaede had changed around Kagome. Kaede had become like a second mother, and she her daughter. Kagome had done much training under her watchful eyes.

Kagome was now very skilled with the bow and arrow and was able to hit anything moving at an extremely fast pace. Even Inuyasha couldn't dodge her arrows anymore and neither could the speedy demons that came too close to the village with the intent of harming the people there. Also, she learned to hone and control her immense priestess powers. Though she knew there was much more then she could fully control; however, she at least had some control none-the-less. She was proud of herself for coming so far in only a year's time.

The Shikon Jewel was still in the hands of Naraku, but Kagome had a feeling that it wouldn't be too long before he would be slain. Kikyo had steered clear of Kagome as of late, which wasn't a problem as far as she was concerned. Kikyo seemed to know that even coming within a mile of Kagome would endanger what soul she had left. Naraku usually sent Kagura now to do most of the dirty work.

Kagome was nearing the hut, her eyes holding an angered expression. Some of the villagers who had waved to her had caught the sight of her expression and returned quickly to their work. She hated that they had seen her in a foul mood, but it could not be helped. Inuyasha had seen to it that, yet again, she was in an angry state.

_What he did back there was not right...not acceptable. I can't believe the jerk..._ She walked over to Kaede's hut, pulling the reed door open just enough to poke her head through. "Lady Kaede, I just came to say hello. I'm going to go for a short walk, could you watch over my pack?"

Kaede was bent over a large pot adding herbs to the water mixture. "Kagome, you have come back early. Is everything alright with ye?" She had stilled her work to stare at Kagome's angered face. She was still surprised that Kagome could change her moods so quickly when Kagome gave her a lovely smile.

"Just fine Kaede. Can you tell the others I went for a walk and will return soon?"

"They are not here. While you were away, they decided to pay Sango'svillage a visit to pay their respects." The older woman bent to her work again.

"Alright, just watch my pack then for me. I appreciate it." She left the pack sitting by the door and closed the reed door. She continued to walk, her destination the God Tree, the only place that seemed to have a soothing effect on her. She looked to the sky as she walked..._Why does Inuyasha have to be a jerk?_

Kagome's day had not been too good. Normally her days were just filled with harmless fighting with Inuyasha, perhaps a demon fight or two, nothing too bad. But no, Inuyasha had to come and wreck her trip home. _Stupid jerk._

-Flashback-

Kagome was having a wonderful time with her friends at the mall. She had been home for about three days, and was aloud another four days to stay. She had done much homework since she had been home. Her grades weren't what they used to be, but she refused to give up.

She spent a full afternoon listening to Gramp's ramblings about demons and ways to stop them. Not really paying attention, his advice was never very helpful. He stuffed some spell scrolls in her hand, which automatically went to the trash when he wasn't there to see.

Buyo had been a little on the annoying side, stepping in front of her feet no matter which way she was going. As soon as she thought she had dodged the cat, he would walk a little farther and lie right in her path. Stumbling, she would have to almost fall in order not to step on the poor cat. _Such an attention seeker._

"Awww...look at the cute doggy," the girls had chimed to Kagome. Kagome stared at the dog, it was a tanish color and very fluffy, one ear stood straight up while the other ear had the tip bent down. What attracted her the most were the eyes. They were a golden yellow color, usually this would have reminded her of Inuyasha, but for some reason she thought of Sesshomaru. _Great, thinking about Ice Prince. Inuyasha would just love to hear that._ She smiled inwardly. Inuyasha was always such a touchy one, especially when either Naraku, Kikyo, or Sesshomaru was mentioned.

Kagome could hear the girls giggling around her and she gave them a look of uncertainty. "What? Did I do or say something funny?" She looked down at herself to make sure everything was all right there which caused more giggles from her friends.

"It's Hojo, he's coming this way. Come Kagome, we know Inuyasha is a jerk, you told us so yourself. Remember, conceited and all that. Hojo is the perfect guy for you. He gives you gifts and waits on you hand and foot, that's far more then that Inuyasha has ever done." Eri was never really one to not speak her thoughts, no matter who or what was around her.

"Kagome!" Hojo called as he walked over to Kagome and her group with the same big smile on his face. Kagome wondered if he ever frowned at all.

Kagome looked over at Hojo. He had suddenly appeared between the masses of people that gathered around the mall. _Boy am I glad a certain dog boy isn't here...he would have a cow._ "Hello Hojo. How are you?"

"I'm just fine. I should be asking how you are Kagome. You seem to look alright, not like one who's been sick with...what was it..." He had a quizzical look on his face as he tried to recall the last name of the disease she'd had.

Not being able to come up with it, he merely shrugged. Kagome watched him and smiled sheepishly. _Thanks gramps, you gave him something he couldn't even remember._

"Anyway Kagome, I got this for you." He handed her a small package that was wrapped in a blue wrapper. Kagome took the gift and opened the paper with reluctance.

To her surprise, it seemed to be a bottle of lotion. She smiled at the bottle, and turned it over to see what scent it would be. _Advanced Medicinal Cream, For All Your Skin Irritations... should have known..._"Uh, thanks Hojo. That was very nice of you." She smiled at him.

It was then that she sensed him, and with great dread, she looked behind her. There was Inuyasha in his red fire-rat outfit and a baseball cap hiding his ears from view. _At least he had the sense the put the hat on before coming out here._ "Hello Kagome, nice to see you having so much fun."

Kagome glared daggers at Inuyasha. This was her time, her time to be with her friends and her family. Time to get away from annoying half demons that didn't know when to keep their mouths shut. "Hello Inuyasha. May I ask what you are doing here?" she asked in a tone of deathly sweetness.

"So that's Inuyasha...the jerk?...It appears to be...I can't believe he talked like that to Kagome...He is a jerk isn't he! Of all the nerve...Typical guy"

"Guys can you please keep it down," Kagome pleaded to her friends who were now in a world of their own. Their observations of Inuyasha weren't making him to happy either.

"So, that's what you think of me? If I'm such a jerk, why do you keep hanging around!" His shout made just about everyone in that vicinity of the mall turn and stare. He turned his gaze to Hojo who was staring at him in wonder. "You can't have her you hear! So BACK OFF!" His gaze returned to Kagome.

"Inuyasha, can we talk about this later. People are starting to stare and I..." She was never able to continue.

"You don't want to be seen with me? FINE!" He ran off out of the mall with his demon speed making her friends stare at her in wonder. Poor Hojo looked like he was going to die of shock and had a pained look in his eyes. _The poor guy..._

"Guys, I'll talk to you later." With that, she ran to her house in tears. _Why am I crying...it's not like I did anything wrong here! I should be angry at the stupid jerk. I can't believe he did that to poor Hojo. I'll have to have a talk with him when I return._ Kagome made it to her house and went up to her room.

She quickly packed everything she would need on her journey with the group. Also, she gathered some of her schoolwork, determined to finish what she could while on their travels. She put the pack on her back and made her downstairs to the kitchen. She placed some ramen, lots of chocolate and candies, and other things she would need.

With her pack ready, she had started her walk to the well house. She stopped quickly, glancing at the God Tree. It is the only thing that could truly calm her nerves (other then walking for hours on end). With a small sigh, she opened to the door to the well house only to come upon Inuyasha. He was leaning against the lip of the well, arms crossed, and ears held back a little, meaning he was irritated. _The jerk! He comes and ruins my stay home and he has the nerve to be irritated at me!_

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT KAGOME!" He was now standing right in front of her, his clawed hands clenching and unclenching.

"I was with my friends at the mall. What did it look like!" _He's the biggest jerk I've ever known, and the dumbest...geez. A girl can only take so much of this._ "Now, get out of my way so I can go." She had made it to the lip of the well and had one leg over when Inuyasha spoke again.

"You were going to betray me with that...that...Hojo guy!" His words sent Kagome's temper through the roof.

"Me betray YOU? I don't think so Inuyasha. YOU betray ME! Every time you think of Kikyo, every time you look at me and think of her, you betray ME! And I'm sick and tired of it Inuyasha. I told you before I would stand next to you, be there for you...but when you falsely accuse me of betraying you...grrrr...SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!" She screamed at him as she jumped into the well.

She had slowly climbed out of the well with her heavy pack on her back. _This isn't as easy as it used to be...I'm too used to Inuyasha helping me out...the jerk._

-End Flashback-

She continued walking down the path the God Tree. _The tree I met Inuyasha and everything began. I saved him from the tree and he had the nerve to try and kill me. Man, he really is a jerk like my friends said. Still...I can't help but love him. How could he accuse me of betraying him?_

She stomped her feet as she walked. The God Tree was now in her view and she ran over to it and stopped about ten feet away from the massive trunk. Its many branches were now bare and ready for the winter snows to come. A graceful, powerful tree stood out from any other. She smiled inwardly as its comforting ability towards her seemed to be taking effect.

She took her seat near by the trunk of the tree, placing her arm on part of the root that was above the ground. This was her favorite spot to be, to think, to just be there made her happy. Memories of her family played in her mind. She knew they'd be worried to find her gone, but surely they would know where she went when they noticed was gone.

She yawned and stretched her arms to relax her muscles. A side effect the tree also had on her, making her overly tired. Her eyelids slowly slid shut and her breathing began to relax. _I have to get over Inuyasha..._ was the last thought before the dream world took her over.

Inuyasha stood at the well for a few minutes, giving Kagome plenty of time to climb up and be on her way walking. He could smell Sota nearby, so he took shaky steps over to the boy. What Kagome had yelled at him really got to him. _I didn't know she felt that way about Kikyo...I didn't think she really cared that much. Maybe I am a jerk..._

The little boy Sota was playing by the God Tree, a soccer ball bouncing on his forehead. Inuyasha watched with slight amusement that the little boy had the skill to hit the ball up with his head and not let it fall after three or so times. "Hey, Kagome went back to my time. Let her mom know."

Sota didn't wasn't even distracted for a minute; he just kept bouncing the ball on his head. "Alright. See ya later Inuyasha." He smiled as he counted twenty times he had bounced the ball into the air.

Inuyasha was thankful the boy hadn't mentioned Kagome in any way, shape, or form. With a sigh, he walked slowly over to well, making sure he gave Kagome plenty of time to get well away from the area, he had no intention of having an irate Kagomeshouting'sit' anymore times today.

He jumped down the well. The best part of traveling to Kagome's time and back was the weightless feeling of floating through time in the well, surrounded by glowing lights and the like. He landed lightly on his feet and looked up from the bottom of the well. The sun was shining, giving the well a magical look with its vined walls. He leapt out of the well and landed on a nearby tree.

Without thinking about it, he ran full speed towards Kaede's hut. He knew Kagome had just been there, he could smell it. Thankfully, she had already left. _Looking for the others I bet. I hope she isn't too mad still...I don't want her saying sit anymore..._

He stopped in front of the reed door of the hut, put up a face of indifference, and pulled it open and walked inside. He noticed Kaede glance his way and let out a small sigh indicating she knew about Kagome's angered mood and knew it was his fault. "WHAT!" He shouted at her. _It's none of her business...why can't she just butt out! I bet she even wants me to apologize!_

"Ye should not treat Kagome as you do Inuyasha." She looked down at her stew and tasted the contents. It was turning out nicely thanks to the helpful added ingredients Kagome had once showed her. Her eyes glanced over atInuyasha, whose posture was now straight as a board and as defiant as ever.

"I treat her just fine. Perhaps if she was nicer to me and didn't try to betray me I wouldn't have yelled at her!" He was thoroughly angry now, especially at the mention of Hojo. He had smelled Hojo's interest in Kagome all too well, and he had noticed her friends egging her on to go to him. Also, he had heard them calling Inuyasha a conceited jerk. He let a low growl.

"Kagome would not betray ye Inuyasha. She has too innocent a spirit to do such a thing as you suggest." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Perhaps you should put more trust in the girl, and stop considering her to be like my dead sister."

Inuyasha let out a louder warning growl. "Look, I have no interest in Kikyo alright! I did love her, but she's not her anymore. I know Kagome is nothing like Kikyo...which is why I..." His face softened but only for an instant. "Listen old hag, you better not say anything if anyone asks alright!"

Kaede gave him a slight nod. "In the meantime, ye might try to apologize to the girl for your comparison of her to Kikyo."

"I'm NOT going to apologize!" With that, he stormed out of the hut in a blur. He didn't know what to do, he just needed to run, needed to get away from everyone and everything. _Why does everyone seem to think I compare her to Kikyo! I never mention her, they do! Besides, Kagome has no reason to be jealous or anything over Kikyo...she should know how I feel._

The trees seemed to blur together with his increased speed. For all he knew, he was going around in circles to nowhere in particular. That's when he noticed a rather large tree; he was too occupied to look at the surrounding area. _I would never hurt you on purpose Kagome...maybe I should tell you how I really feel._

He jumped onto one of the fat branches of the tree. He could smell Kagome's scent, it seemed like it was so close, but he figured it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He slumped down on the branch and leaned against the stump to stare at the sky, which had started to turn to night with the setting sun. The colors were very beautiful, rich oranges and pinks. He sighed when the lullaby melody of the forest and Kagome's scent had him drifting off to sleep.

"Can we go back now? We should be waiting for Kagome to return!" Shippo screamed at them for the thousandth time.

"Come now Shippo, you must know how important it is for Sango to pay her respects to her family." Miroku stared at the kit. His gaze went to his staff reminding the kit of the previous incident that earned him a nice whack on the head.

"I know, I know...I just miss Kagome." He grumbled the words out.

They all sat around the campfire they had made near the burial ground of Sango's family and friends. The orange and yellow colors held Shippo's fascination. He stretched his little paws and started to curl up next to the already sleeping Kilala.

Sango was sitting next to Miroku, which was amazing enough since he had to be warned earlier that day not to touch her again or she would torture him until he begged for death. She didn't truly mean it, but hey, whatever works right? She gazed over at the monk. "We should get some sleep. We shall return to the village tomorrow."

Miroku looked over at Sango, catching her gaze. "Whatever you wish Sango." He couldn't help but let his eyes roam since his hands were not to touch her. Surely she wouldn't have anything against that...right? She looked so tough, yet so soft...so full of courage and pain. He just wanted to hold her, comfort her, kiss her...

SMACK

Shippo watched the helpless monk fall to the ground, a nice red hand print highlighting his left cheek. With little snickers, he closed his eyes and snuggled closer to Kilala. _We'll be leaving soon...I can't wait to get back. Surely Kagome brought some chocolate for me. Mmmm...chocolate..._ With those happy thoughts, Shippo fell into a silent slumber.

"I know what you were thinking Miroku..." She stood up, placed hiraikotsu against a large rock, and leaned on it. She watched Miroku gather himself off the ground and wipe down his robes from the dirt they had gathered from his nice fall.

"Why Sango, I wasn't thinking anything that would deserve that." His smile, he noticed, softened her eyes. However, it was not long lived for they were hardened yet again.

"Sure. Now, good night Miroku." She sat down on the ground and again leaned against her hiraikotsu, this time preparing for sleep. _He better not try anything..._ She closed her eyes, hoping he would stay on his side of the fire. _Why couldn't he just, for once, not grab at me when I try and get close to him? Are all guys such idiots? I know Inuyasha is, but why does Miroku have to be? _She sighed and let herself start to drift off.

"Good night Sango." He leaned against a nearby tree, and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds around him. The birds were silent and the wind was blowing a little making hollow noises as they went through the trees. Shippo was mumbling in his sleep, his little hands grabbing at something in his sleep and Kilala looked like she was chasing something down. I_ hope they are having good dreams and not nightmares. Poor Sango, she'll probably dream of Kohaku again. She's had to deal with so much, I wish there was something I could do to help her._

He heard Sango's breathing even out and opened an eyelid to take a glance at her. _I hope one day she knows how I feel..._ He let out a small sigh and closed his eyes again. He soon fell asleep like the other members with his head hanging down.


	2. Dreams

**A/N**Ok, I'm very sorry for keeping the next chapter away from you for such a long time. I just had to go through and make sure that everything was as I wanted it to be. Also, I had one person ask about the pairings of this story...well, it's a surprise! -

**Ch.1Dreams**

All of them slept, Miroku had fallen on his side during his sleep. His right cheek lie flat against the cold earth, his left hand gripped his staff and his right arm was buried under his chest. His legs were bent slightly for more comfort as he slept.

His breath started to quicken, but then caught in his throat before continueing with the even pace of sleep. "Mmmm..."

---Miroku's Dream---

He was walking alone through the forest. The trees were surrounding him. It was daytime, he could tell because sunlight was shining through breaks in the foliage giving the forest a dream sort of look. There were also a few birds flapping their way through the forest. He looked around and scanned the area. There was a doe to his left, a little fawn standing right next to her. It's innocent looking eyes shone brightly before both mother and child took off into the dense bushes.

He continued walking on his way when his breath caught. It was Sango, she was half hidden behind a tree, only her head and part of her shoulder and arm were visible to him. She smiled and held her hand to her mouth in a cute giggle. She then took off into the forest away from him.

Not one to take this opportunity lightly, he soon gave chase the hiding demon exterminator. "Sango," he called out in a sing-song voice, "where are you?" He heard a giggle ahead of him and peered around a wide tree. Sango was there in her regular kimono.

At the sight of him, she seemed to blush slightly. This caught the monk off guard and she used that to her advantage. She crawled through a bush and stayed hidden for several moments.

Miroku was confused as to what he should do, stay or follow. Likely if he followed she would hit him with her hiraikotsu or her fist, but if he stayed, he would never know what she was doing and it would likely be the death of him. With a sigh he called out, "Sango?"

On cue, Sango's hand emerged from the bush. With her palm facing up, she beckoned him to come as she seductively moved her fingers to signal him it was alright to follow now.

Miroku cautiously moved through the bush, the many twigs getting caught on his robes. He used the staff to pry any grabbing twigs away. When he emerged on the other side he wiped the leaves from his hair and the dirt from his robes. At the sound of a nearby giggle, his head shot up to look at his surroundings.

There was a steaming hot spring right at his feet. The entire area was surrounded by blossoming cherry trees, the petals falling onto the steaming water of the hot spring. The steam and petals gave the spring a very romantic look. But nothing had prepared him for what he saw next.

A sigh was heard and he turned his head. He could have sworn he started crying right then and there. For Sango was there, her body turned away from him but her head was turned to the side so she could look at him from the corner of her eye. She was wrapped in a towel, the towel hung seductively low on her back. She then turned to fully face him, her arms were in front of her clutching the towel to her chest.

Miroku could only stare at her as she walked towards him, her hips swaying a little. She stopped about an inch away from him, nearly pressing herself against him. "Sango?" Her eyes looked into his, both lost for a second.

Miroku laughed then and brought his left hand up to sratch the back on his head. "Would you bear my children?" He started to bring his hands to a defensive stance around his head, but her laughter gave him pause.

"Of course my love." Her bright smile almost made him faint from shock. She let the towel drop slightly and pressed herself against Miroku. Her hands let go of the towel, but it didn't move since she was pressing up against Miroku. Her hands circled around his neck and she stood on her tip toes.

_That settles it...I've died and this must be heaven. For surely in no other place could something this grand happen to me. I think I'm going to cry out of pure happiness. _He had watched Sango lefted herself so he could claim her lips. _Who am I to deny what she wants?_ With that, he leaned his head down and captured her lips with his.

Her lips were so soft, like rose petals. The towel dropped from between them and he only held her closer, placing his hands around her back. _Her body is full of contrasts. She's so soft and yielding, but yet she's hard and tough, she looks so helpless but she's quite able, AND SHE'S FINALLY MINE!_

Somehow, without knowing it, Miroku and Sango wound up in the hot spring, both stripped of any clothing. Miroku was sure that he'd died by now, for how else could this be happening? His hands were rubbing up and down her back, one made its way down to grope her butt. _So soft..._

He started kissing a trail down her neck, playing on the skin with his tongue and lightly nipping with his teeth. He heard Sango moan and nearly lost it. He brought his mouth back to her lips and asked for entrance by tracing his tongue against her bottom lip. Without hesitation, she parted her lips and his tongue was free to explore._ So soft...so sweet..._

"Sango..." he panted out.

"Miroku?"

"Sango..."

"MIROKU!"

"Mmm...Sango..."

"PERVERT!"

------

Miroku woke up abruptly when a clenched fist made its way to his skull. He fell to the ground again rather roughlywith an irate Sango glaring daggers at him. He started to whimper and that turned into outright crying. _WHY? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE A DREAM!_

Sango stared at the pathetic monk whimpering on the ground like he had just lost everything by waking up from his dream. She sighed slightly and went back to sit down and leaned against her hiraikotsu. Her eyes stared at the night sky which was full of blazing stars. She wished her dream had been as nice as Miroku's, but she was not as lucky as the monk. All she had were her nightmares.

She placed her left leg straight out and her right leg bent so her hands could rest on her knee and her chin on her hands. Her thoughts went to her dream, her nightmares. It had been similar to every other dream she had had since the night her brother had been forced to kill her family and dear friends and had been brought back only to be used by Naraku.

Sango stared at the two demons still sleeping beside her. _Even they seem to have better dreams then I do. _She sighed and replayed the dream in her head.

---Sango's Dream---

She was walking through the woods, it was almost black which gave the forest a haunting look. Miroku was following her with lustfilled eyes as they roved down to her bottom. When his eyes made there way back up, he met Sango's glare and he visibly shivered from the amount of hatred burning in them. _When will he stop staring at me like that long enough for me to show how much I feel about him? He's as much an idiot as Inuyasha is._

Inuyasha and Kagome were in the lead, walking silently side by side, but both looking in the opposite direction with angered eyes and arms crossed in front of their chests. It was the average night, nothing really missing except the fight between Inuyasha and Shippo that was bound to happen anytime.

Right on cue, "Inuyasha, you shouldn't pout like that, Kagome says only children pout." Shippo's voice hung in the silence. Inuyasha's feet stopped and he turned around slowly to look Shippo down. He bared his teeth in an angered growl.

"SHUT UP SHIPPO!" Shippo screamed and hid behind Sango's hair on her shoulder.

"INUYASHA! SIT! Don't you dare yell at Shippo like that!" She screamed at him. His body was about three feet down in the dirt, signifying she was really angered at the poor Inuyasha. She then added under her breath, "Especially when he's right."

Inuyasha pulled himself on the ground. Just as he opened his mouth to yell back at Kagome for the mouthful of dirt, and probably to call her a stupid girl and to mind her own business, his head turned towards the south and he let out a low growl. "Naraku..."

That was all the group needed. Kilala transformed with a brilliant flame into the big cat demon that she was with flames licking at her feet and hair bristled. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo jumped onto her back. Argument seemingly forgotten at the moment, Kagome jumped on Inuyasha's back and he sped off in the direction his nose had picked up the scent.

Everything was a blur then, she didn't remember how long it took to get to the clearing. The clearing was basically a wide area covered with dirt, some spurts of grass grew defying the choking ground. The area was completely surrounded by trees, creating a black wall around the clearing. Basically, it was your typical dream battlefield.

Sango looked around to see just what Naraku had sent them. There was Kagura, her fan held out in front of her as she stood there, seemingly waiting for them to make the first move. Someone was behind her, and they made there way in front of Kagura. It was..._Kohaku..._

The battle began. Hordes of demons were sent along after Inuyasha and the group. Miroku fought with his staff and Kagome with her bow and arrows. Inuyasha used the Tetsusaiga as much as he could without hurting Kohaku in the process.

Kohaku walked over to Sango and unshiethed his sword. Sango did the same and stared angrily at the boy, wishing things could be different. She knew that it was just a dream, but even in her dream it was like the real thing playing over and over in her mind. She guessed it was her minds way of torturing her for not being there when she was needed the most.

Their swords clashed together, over and over again. She dodged as many attacks as she could without hurting him in the process. He finally landed a slash against her side. She had screamed out in pain and Kohaku merely stared at her, sword held up to ready another attack on his own sister that he did not remember.

Sango held her hand on her wound to try and hold back the bleeding. She knew what she had to do, she knew what she was going to do no matter how much she didn't want to. She held up her sword and aimed at him. "Aaaah!" She ran at him with all her speed, he simply stood there waiting for her. She knew he was going to dodge off to the side, just like he did in every other dream.

Just as predicted, as she got there, he dodged to the side and her sword made contact with his shoulder, piercing through and forcing the jewel shard out of his body. Sango fell to the ground,releasing her sword on the way down. Her hands and knees shakilyheld her off the ground. She looked around and saw Kohaku's body lying near her. She crawled over to his already dead looking body and held him in her lap. "Kohaku, I'm so sorry." She whispered more to herself then to him.

"S...Sango...I'm...sorry." His eyes shone with life for an instant, then began to fade away right before her.

"Shh..it wasn't your fault, none of it was. It was all Naraku's doing." Sango smiled sadly down at her only family that she was now going to lose, yet again, in another dream and possible for real one day.

He coughed then, blood spilling onto his already pale white lips. "It...w-wasn't your fault...either Sango...I'm s-sorry you feel...guilty. Please Sango...kill Naraku before he can...do this to someone...else."

"I promise." She looked into his eyes and the life was gone, nothing was there. Tears burned her eyes as she stared at her lifeless little brother. Usually her dreams had ended there, but this one didn't. This dream had to take things way beyond what had ever happened in her others.

She looked up to stare at Kagura, she noticed that Kanna stood waiting behind her. She didn't know what this meant until Inuyasha used the wind scar. All the demons in front of Kagura were instantly killed, leaving none in its path. That is until it finally reached Kagura, but before that could happen, Kanna stepped out in front of her and reflected the attack back at Inuyasha with her mirror.

Inuyasha was badly injured, Miroku, Kagome, Shippo, and Kilala were all dead from the massive blast, their bodies lying in their own blood. Sango couldn't breath, no matter how much her lungs called for the life giving oxygen.

Inuyasha stood there all alone, looking at all of them. He gave and anguished cry, and that was when she had woken up. She had lost basically everyone that she held dear in the world, her brother, her love, one she considered her sister, and her best friend. They had all been taken away from her.

Even now, just thinking about had Sango fighting back the tears that threatened to spill out. She wouldn't let them however, she prided herself in being strong, and that meant not crying for everyone to see. She couldn't take it if they were all worried over her, it was too unnerving. Her eyes shifted to look at Shippo. _I wonder what he's dreaming about...hopefully it's a happy dream. _

Shippo was curled up in a little ball right next to Kilala. His tiny hands were grabbing at something in the air, what it was he was grabbing at was unknown. He smiled in his sleep and little giggles made their way to his mouth.

---Shippo's Dream---

It was wonderful, it was so lovely, it was...PERFECT! He was the luckiest fox demon in all of history. For here he sat with two handfulls of candy. That wasn't just all of it though. Shippo was sitting atop an entire mountain of candy, all sorts of candy. There was chocolate of all kinds, cotton candy, and much more.

Shippo took his time to lick a lollipop then cast it aside as he took another into his mouth. "This is the life!" He jumped down from the candy hill and slid down into another mound of candy. He was in tears of happiness from this wonderfully made dream.

He looked around and saw Kagome sitting indian style atop a small hill of candy. She looked at him and smiled warmly at him. Shippo ran to her and jumped into her arms which she brought around him to hold him lightly against her.

"Kagome, I missed you!" He snuggled against her chest to show how much he loved her.

"I missed you too Shippo." She smiled down at him and began to tickle his stomach.

His laughter was uncontrolled as the torture of being tickled continued down to his feet. Tears were forming in his eyes and he couldn't help but let them fall. When his face was red and he could barely manage to breathe, Kagome stopped her tickling and peered down at the kit.

"Kagome...um.." He stared down at his hands and his tail twitched nervously.

"What is it Shippo?" When Shippo remained silent she spoke again. "Come on Shippo, you can tell me what's wrong."

"Will you be my mama?" Shippo looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"You want me to be your mama Shippo?" She looked shocked that he would ask her that and then a smile graced her features. "Of course I'll be your mama if you want me to be."

Shippo was too happy to do anything for a moment, his happiness paralyzing him. Suddenly, he jumped into her arms yet again and looked at her face. "Wanna play...mama?"

Kagome merely nodded her head and they continued to play in the mounds of candy. Each of them throwing candy at the other. Shippo got a handfull of candy and pigishly stuffed them into his mouth. One thing he didn't get was how he could put the candy, wrapper included, into his mouth and once in his mouth, the wrapper would disappear. Not that he was complaining or anything. _This is the life!_

---End Shippo's Dream---

Sango's eyes lightened a little as she continued to watch the little fox's childlike grasps in the air, wondering just what he was dreaming about yet again. When a small laugh escaped his lips she smiled. _At least he doesn't have nightmares, and he shouldn't. No one should ever have to have nightmares, especially ones like mine._

With a small sigh, she looked over to the cat demon laying on her side next to Shippo. Her two tails were twitching back and forth and small purrs could be heard. Sango watched with amusement as her paws began to move in a running motion. _She's chasing something...but it looks like she's playing more then attacking. I wonder who she's playing with..._

---Kilala's Dream---

Kilala was in an open field, the green grass to her shoulders in her transformed state. Her fangs shined in the sun, showing how dangerous the cat could be if angered. Her red eyes made their way to the woman in which she was playing with, her old master, her old friend.

The woman stood atop the hill. She wore a green kimono that was specially made for fighting. She wore a light chest armor, a sword could be seen at her side, and her purple hair shone in the bright sun.

_My master is all right, Midoriko is all right! _Kilala ran over to Midoriko, who in turn and smiled at the fire cat demon.

"Kilala, you have done well. You are a truly wonderful companion to those around you, and I thank you for protecting the village as much as you could, and also for protecting me when I was not strong enough."

Kilala wimpered a little and nuzzled Midoriko's leg softly. Midoriko's hand made its way to Kilala's ear and began to scratch and pet her lovingly. Without warning, Midoriko took off in a high jump, much like Inuyasha did at time; however, this was all play.

Kilala sprang after Midoriko, making sure she always stayed on her tail but never quite catching up to her. _I am happy here. I wish Sango and I could play like we used to...but I know she suffers with the fate of her brother and family. I should have been there to protect them. I couldn't even protect the villagers from the evils of Naraku._ A small growl escaped from her and Midoriko stopped.

"It was not your fault Kilala, you must never believe that it was. You have helped more then you know." Kilala's sad eyes looked at Midoriko. "Kilala, I must ask you to do something for me..."

Kilala purred, telling her to continue and tell her the request. "What I say here must never be known to any of the people that you travel with. No hints can be given, or it could ruin everything."

Kilala nodded her head in agreement that she would tell no soul what she was about to be told. Midoriko sighed and continued, "Kagome is not a reincarnation of Kikyo." Seeing the confused look Kilala gave her, she continued. "She is my reincarnation. The two look similar, but that is all that they share. Kikyo was only able to keep part of Kagome's soul because she has some priestess powers and there is the fact that Kagome has allowed her to do so. Kagome, with time, will grow far more powerful then Kikyo could dream of being, and maybe even more powerful then I."

Kilala wondered why this could not be known the group. _Either way, it is not like I could just tell them. I can't speak their language._

"Now, my request is this," seeing that Kilala was now paying attention again, she continued, "Naraku is going to send his forces after you and your group when you return to the village. However, I need you to stall in getting there for as long as you can."

Kilala looked more confused then ever and transformed into her smaller version. She mewed for Midoriko to continue her explanation. "I can only tell you that something must happen to Kagome, otherwise, everything will be lost to the hands of Naraku. Kilala, I know it must be hard to trust me when I tell you you must leave Kagome to deal with the demons Naraku will send, but you have to trust me. Will you do this for me Kilala?"

Kilala thought about for a minute and mewed in agreement. "Thank you Kilala. I must go now, I have other important matters that I must see to. Please, remember to stall as long as you possibly can. The future depends on this. It was nice to see you again Kilala."

In front of Midoriko, a bright light purple light appeared with shining what orbs floating around it. Midoriko slowly walked into the light and disappeared. Seconds later, the light disappeared as well.

Kilala sat atop the small hill for a while, thinking about what she was asked to do and wondering what would have to happen to Kagome. _I hope I am doing the right thing in obeying my old master. I know she would not lead me wrong...I will do my best._ She stared into the setting sun and at the stars that were now appearing in the sky. "Mew..."

---End Kilala's Dream---

Sango stared as her friend mewed. _It sounded so sad, I wonder what she's dreaming about. Hopefully it's not about the village. I couldn't stand if she were having nightmares too. _Sango looked across the fire and noticed Miroku sitting up and looking into the fire, his eyes held no emotion except extremem concentration. I_ wonder what he's thinking about..._

Miroku looked up and into Sango's eyes. _So, she was staring at me...she looks sad. Maybe I should try and comfort her..._ Miroku slowly stood up, his staff jingling a little as he swung it to lean on his shoulder, and walked over to Sango. He light sat down beside her and place the staff next to her hiraikotsu. "What's on your mind?"

"Just thinking, that's all." Sango tried to give him a smile, but it faltered quite badly and she stared at the fire intently.

"Come Sango, surely you consider me a friend. Friends talk to one another." Her urged her silently to tell him what was wrong. He even kept his hands to himself to show her that he was serious by placing his hands on his lap.

"I had a dream about Kohako again."

Miroku merely nodded. He had figured she had dreamed about that again, that's all she seemed to dream about really, why would now be any different?

"But, this dream was different. It didn't stop after I killed Kohaku. Every one of you were fighting off the demons and I was watching from the side. Inuyasha used the wind scar and Kanna came out from behind Kagura. Her mirror reflected the attack and...and..." tears started falling down her cheeks.

Miroku couldn't stand to let her cry and brought his arms around her shoulders. Her head settled beside his neck as the tears freely spilled from her eyes. "Shh...it's alright Sango. It was just a dream."

"Everyone was dead, except Inuyasha, but he was almost dead...I saw Kagome and Shippo lying beside one another...Kilala was...in front of Inuyasha...and you...you were..." More tears fell from her eyes and onto his already wet robes.

"I'm here Sango, and I'm still alive. So is everyone else. Everything is going to be ok...trust me." He placed his left arm around her back, holding her to him, and his right hand stroked her hair to offer some comfort.

They sat there like that for some time until Sango finally cried herself to sleep. _Well, at least she cares for me..._ he tried to joke with himself. He sighed and looked down at the face resting against his shoulder. "Sweet dreams Sango..." He yawned and got a little more comfortable and went back to sleep himself.


	3. Dreams cont

**A/N-**I know, two chapters in such a short time! Well, I figured since the two kind of go together, I had better get them both up. I know things have yet to pick up with the major storyline, but don't worry...things shall get a little more interesting soon.

**Ch2.Dreams (cont.)**

Inuyasha whimpered slightly in his sleep. It was the normal dream all over again, but this time, something was strangely different about it. It always started the same, with the fateful day fifty years ago when Kikyo had turned on him because of the evil Naraku.

---Inuyasha's Dream---

Inuyasha was in the forest, waiting for Kikyo to appear. He had the jewel and was waiting for her so he could make his wish and they could be togther again. Just then, a few arrows hit the tree nearby, and he could only think of one thing...run. Which he did, only to hear the one scream he always dreaded.

"Inuyasha!" He heard her scream at him and heard the thrumming of a bow string. The pain was terrible; the arrow had pierced his chest and pinned him to the Goshinboku tree, which he would stay pinned to for fifty years.

Inuyasha whimpered from the pain and the fact that he had dropped the jewel. He then looked at Kikyo as his limbs started to go limp and his vision to go black. "Ki..Kikyo...How could...I thought..." Inuyasha's form slumped on the tree and he watched as his body caved in to the effects of the sleeping spell. The scene always haunted him, especially knowing that Kikyo had died just moments after.

He had thought that she had meant to betray him, but in reality, she thought that he had betrayed her and had only done what she thought was right. She had pinned him because he had supposedly betrayed her. But it had all been Naraku.

He watched as fifty years seemed to go by and Kagome emerged from the well. She ran to him, as if him being pinned to the tree were the most horrible thing she had ever witnessed. Soon, she was at his side; her hands around the arrow took on a faint glow of pink as she destroyed the spell and arrow that went along with it. Inuyashastared at her in amazementfor a few seconds before he pulled her into a tight hug."Thank you Kagome..."

"Inuyasha..." He leaned back slightly to look at her face and see if she was going to sit him a couple of times; but, instead of anger, he saw shock and a blush play across her face. He started to lean down to kiss her, as he usually did in his dream, but she disappeared within his arms in a burst of blue light. He stood there for a moment, his arms still held in the air as if he were still hugging her.

Everything went black around him, he was in a void of nothingness. He looked around a little bit, and decided that he couldn't risk moving around too much. "Kagome!" _Grr...where is that girl? How could she just disappear like that? _He looked around at the blackness that surrounded. _And where the hell am I?_

In the time it took for him to blink and open his eyes again, he was standing on dirt, the soft coolness familiar to his bare feet. What he saw around him amazed and scared him. There were flames all around him, and buildings were broken down and people were screaming. The confusion of this place reminded him of Kikyo. "What the hell!"

"Inuyasha..."

Inuyasha turned to where someone had called his name. It was none other then Kikyo in her white and red priestess clothing. "Kikyo...what is this place?"

"Inuyasha..."

He looked at her for a moment. His eyes widened as he saw the white shirt begin to turn crimson with the stain of blood before his eyes. Her right arm hung limply and her left hand grabbed at her shoulder, seeminlgly trying to stop the bleeding and the pain. What surprised Inuyasha even more was the look in her eyes. It wasn't that of the cold and lifeless Kikyo he had come to know, there was life within the depths of her brown eyes. _She's alive...and she's hurt..._ "Kikyo!"

He started running towards her, his legs going as fast as they could. But no matter how fast his legs seemed to go, he got no closer to his old love. _Why can't I move? I have to get to her! She can't die again!_

"Inuyasha...choose..."

"What?" Inuyasha looked around him for a minute before glancing back at Kikyo. "What do you mean, choose?"

The burning building around him and Kikyo disappeared, fading back to the blackness. The only thing that stayed was Kikyo. She stood there, seemingly dying again, when a light shone down on her. She held up her bloodied arm and pointed at something behind him.

Inuyasha turned his head and ,just on cue, Kagome came floating down till she was standing witha light shining down on her as well. She was smiling at him and her eyes shone with nothing but love for him. He had once longed for such a look from Kikyo, but he realized he had never been looked at like that by the dead priestess.

"I have to choose between you two..." Both nodded at him, telling him it was the time to choose. "I...I don't know if I can."

He looked at Kikyo. She simply stood there, looking at him with pained eyes. Blood slowly dripped onto the ground from her fingers. "Inuyasha...you promised you would be with me...doesn't that mean anything to you?"

A wave of guilt flowed through Inuyasha. He had promised Kikyo he would go with her, but how could he do so when he promised to protect Kagome? _Kagome..._ He looked back over to Kagome who was still smiling at him. Her green skirt moved with what seemed like a slight breeze and her hair danced behind her. "Inuyasha...do what makes you happy." Her eyes looked sad for a moment, but then turned bright once again. "As long as it makes you happy, it doesn't matter who you choose."

_She's so understanding about everything. All Kikyo wants is her revenge for something she knows I didn't do. The two are so different...the only things they really have in common are the soul and appearance. What am I to do..._ He kept looking back and forth between the two. "I CAN'T CHOOSE!" He let out a pained scream.

In a burst of purple light, a woman appeared in front of him. She wore a green fighting kimono with a light chest plate of armor. Hersilky, blackhair billowed out behind her as she stepped out of the light and made her way towards him. "Inuyasha...you are the one who protects Kagome right?"

Inuyasha could only nod his head. I_'ve seen her somewhere before...why does she look familiar...where have I seen her?_ "Who are you?"

"My name is Midoriko." She gave a slight bow. Inuyasha merely stared at her. "I have come to tell you that Kagome will be leaving. You must not search for her, no matter how much you want to. It is something Kagome needs to do in order to defeat Naraku."

Inuyasha could only stare now. His body went limp and he fell to a sitting position on the ground. Midoriko moved to stand in front of him and sat down herself so that she could gaze upon him more easily. "She's leaving...?"

"Yes. She'll be gone for quite some time Inuyasha. She will return though, don't worry about that, and she will return unharmed." A flood of relief flowed through his eyes and his mind. _Thank goodness she won't be hurt..._

"Why can't I search for her?"

"You will understand in a while. Now, here's what is going to happen." She paused for a minute, wondering how best to put it. "Naraku is going to attack and Kagome is going to face it alone. She will disappear for a while, and you must not look for her. You must continue on your journey without her help. Naraku will likely think her dead and will think that you are weak because she is gone. So, he will likely be attacking you more often. You must fight him Inuyasha, but do not try and kill him. That is Kagome's job."

Inuyasha took all these details in. "I have to protect Kagome from Naraku...I don't care what you say...I can't let her take the attack on her own." There was defiance in his eyes that dared anyone to argue. Midoriko merely sighed as she stood up.

"I was affraid you would be like this. That is why I have placed your body under a spell. You shall not wake up until twenty hours have passed, in which time, Kagome will be gone and so will Naraku's demons. You do not have a choice in this matter Inuyasha." A bright purple light appeared and Inuyasha stood up angrily.

"What do you mean I can't wake up! Damn it...Kagome..." I_ can't be there to help her...I'm going to fail her..._ He wished there was something breakable close by, but he was met with blackness surrounding him once again, and Midoriko was nowhere to be seen.

"So...I'm stuck here while everyone is gone, Kagome is angry with me and is about to be attacked, and I have to search for the shards without Kagome's help...WELL ISN'T THIS JUST GREAT!" Her sat down indian style and cradled his sword with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Stupid Midoriko...stupid spell..."

-----

Kagome turned in her sleep as she heard something from above her in the tree branches. Her dream wasn't the most usual one she had. With a sudden gasp, her body lurched forward, her lungs gasping for air. She shook her head a little. _It was only a dream...only a dream...It meant nothing..right?_

She picked up her bow and arrows, which were lying right beside her against the tree. She looked around her; she could sense a demon in the tree above her. She knew it was Inuyasha, she knew him too well not to recognize it was him she felt nearby. _How dare he follow me...the jerk. I still won't forgive him for what he did..._ She sighed... _Who am I kidding...of course I'll forgive him. But that doesn't mean I have to let him know that._ She smiled at that last thought.

Kagome let herself relax against the tree trunk again and thought about her dream. It had started out as a normal dream, it was the final battle with Naraku and everyone was there. Inuyasha had drawn his Tetsusaiga and was already fighting the hordes of demons attacking the group. Sango and Miroku, as well as Kilala, all fought side by side.

The demons were emense in number, it was like an endless supply. Every time one was killed, five or so took its place. Plus they were all hideous and scary looking and they were attacking her friends, which made killing them even better in Kagome's opinion. She had killed a good number of demons with her purification arrows, but still more surrounded her.

She held onto Shippo, who was sitting on her shoulder trying to distract some of the demons with his fox trickery. It was working on some of the more dense demons, but most knew better and went on to fight uneffected.

Kagome noticed that above her, Kagura was also fighting, but she seemed to be helping the group since most of her attacks seemed to miss the group and hit Naraku's demons instead. _So, Kagura turned against Naraku and is helping us...we could use the help._ Kagome let another arrow fly and about twenty or thirty demons disappeared. Kagome caught a brief flash of silver, white, and a red glowing sword. _That must be Sesshomaru..his help will come in handy as well._

She looked around to see if she could see anyone anymore. She noticed that she was completely surrounded by demons and Shippo had left her shoulder sometime during the battle. What was strange was that none were attacking her, none were even within fifteen feet of her. She looked around and noticed that something was above her. Her eyes slowly and dreadingly looked up, only to find herself staring at the human form of Naraku, the real Naraku. He had already taken the full jewel and it was now inside his body, but it had yet to become a true part of him. There was little time left to destroy him.

Naraku chuckled. "Ah, Kagome, just the person I was looking for."

Kagome glared at him and took an arrow and aimed it at Naraku, drawing the bowstring back so that she may release it at any time. "You will die Naraku."

"And leave you without your mate? I don't think so." He stared down at her with lust-filled eyes.

"What! NEVER you evil, dispicable..." She never got to finish for Naraku had her in his arms before she could ever do anything about it. He had used the power of the jewel to enhance his speed, which worked in getting Kagome close to him.

"You are the most powerful woman Kagome, and you will be mine. Considering I have the jewel now, you have no choice." He held her more tightly, almost cracking a few of her ribs.

"You...disgusting...JERK!" She screamed at him, holding her hands to his chest. The shocked look on his face never got old to Kagome. For he didn't realize she had a connection to the jewel, one that went deeper then it just being found in her body.

The pink glow shone from her hands had enveloped both of them in a ball of pink energy. Inuyasha used one last wind scar attack on the remaining demons, and realized that none were taking its place. Kagura finished with the demons around her, turned to help out Miroku and Sango, who were still having a bit of a problem with the remaining demons surrounding them.

Kagome opened her eyes and closed them quickly. The light surrounding them was blindingly bright. She barely opened her eyes so that the light would not be so bad and shielded her eyes with one arm. She noticed that the light was particularly bright in one central area. She reached her hand to it, but an extreme pain shot through her arm. She screamed with the pain and she knew why she felt it.

The jewel was inside someone of pure evil, and she couldn't take the whole jewel, which was now almost evil in itself, and purify it with her touch without feeling some major pain. _JUST GREAT!_

With a little hesitation, she reached out slowly. Even just barely touching the light sent shocks of pain coursing through her body, causing her arm to come back to her chest in a protective gesture. She then glared at the bright light in front of her and she could see Naraku's body begin to piece itself back together, ever so slowly since the purification was eating it away at the same time.

Kagome let out a low growl. _Where did that come from? It actually sounded like a growl...like Inuyasha and Sesshomaru...I must be loosing it. I have to get to that light before it's too late to do so._ With a loud scream, she lunged her arm at the light and her hand seemed to close around something solid. Tears welled up in her eyes from the extreme pain her entire body was now feeling. The light abruptly faded from around her and she fell, what seemed so slowly, to the ground.

She held the jewel in her hands. As she looked at it, she noticed that it was almost a pure black. She concentrated on the jewel and it slowly gained its bright, pink color and it started to shimmer. Time seemed to stand still for a moment. _To give the jewel to Inuyasha, or not to give the jewel to Inuyasha..._ Kagome was sitting with her legs out to the side, her arm holding her up and the other holding the jewel protectively against her chest.

Usually the dream ended there, but no, this one just had to go on. And what happened wasn't to Kagome's liking. Inuyasha walked over to her very quickly and kneeled down beside her. "Are you alright Kagome?"

Kagome nodded her head. "I'm just fine Inuyasha, really." Everyone walked over to her then, and gathered around to see if she was really all right. They had heard her scream, and though her body still hurt, she wasn't about to admit it. That's when she tried to stand up. She had actually gotten to a straight standing position, but her legs simply wouldn't hold her weight for very long, and she began to fall.

She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for yet another impact with the dirt. When it never came, she opened her eyes only to find an arm wrapped around her lower back and her head resting on someone's chest. _I like it here..._ She closed her eyes for a few seconds. It's not like she could fight it anyway, she was too weak to do anything save fall to the ground.

She found herself being picked up off the ground bridal style. It was then that she caught a view of her rescuer. _Sesshomaru! Why did he help me? _She looked into his golden eyes and blushed at the intensity of the returned gaze. Her head turned towards Inuyasha when she heard his growling.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Inuyasha ran and stood in front of Sesshomaru. His eyes started to tint with red as he stood there, sword ready to fight, his breathing coming in small pants. He wasn't ready to fight anything larger then a rabbit.

She knew if she didn't do something soon, Inuyasha would transform into his full demon state, and that wasn't going to turn out nicely for any of them. Kagome grew tired of everything, tired of waiting for Inuyasha, tired of him insulting her, tired of his threats and arguing. "Enough!"

Both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha stared at her, wondering what her statement meant. "Inuyasha, sit." Inuyasha plummeted to the ground. Apparently he didn't have enough strength to even get up for he remained where he had fallen. Sesshomaru started to walk off with her in his arms and she looked up him curiously. "Uh...what are you doing Sesshomaru?"

His intense gaze looked at her, and her breath caught in her throat when she realized he was leaning down close to her. That would have been enough to shock her, but no, she had started to lean up to meet his lips with her own.

It was then that her dream had become reality as everything faded and she opened her eyes to the clearing around the god tree. She sighed and replayed that last part in her dream. _I have no idea where that came from, but that's never going to happen. I love Inuyasha, I could never love that heartless demon. Besides, it was only a dream, it meant nothing...nothing at all. _

Kagome felt an odd shiver go down her back. Usually that meant that a demon was close by, but usually that was a small tug that she felt. She felt a small tug from within her body and knew that whatever demon was out there, it had a shard. She looked up into the tree at Inuyasha and glared. _For once, I'll do this on my own. I'll prove I'm not the weak human he calls me so often._

With her mind made up, Kagome slowly stood up and made her way quietly from the tree. She was slow in her movements so she didn't wake Inuyasha up, for if she did, he would just fight for her and call her weak afterwards. When she made it to the surrounding trees, she gave a small sigh and walked on towards the west, where the pull was coming from.

She kept her bow at the ready, her arrow notched and pointed at the ground. She knew she had to be careful since she had never faced a demon alone and without any help what-so-ever nearby. She had hoped she would make it quietly through the woods, but that wasn't to be. "Ooof" She looked down to see what her foot had tripped on. It was a root. "Ow..."

She stood up and dusted herself off. She had walked quite a ways, even Inuyasha wouldn't be able to get to her in time if she were to get into trouble. _Man, I'm getting tired just trying to get to the demon...not good. _She kept walking, she wasn't going to give up that easily. She looked around the forest she was in and smiled. The sunlight filtered through the bare branches and the chill air kept everything nice and cool as she walked.

Kagome noticed that the shard was still miles away, and she would not be able to walk the distance right then. _Maybe I should just rest a while and go after it in a bit...it's already mid-day. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo should be coming back by now. I'll just rest my legs for a few hours. Besides, the shard is coming towards me, it should be a few hours before it gets here though, so I'll just wait it out._

With that, she sat down and leaned on the trunk of a small tree and waited for the demon to come to her. She knew Inuyasha wouldn't come after her for a while, when he did sleep, he slept for quite a long time. She watched as the woods seemed to sleep around her as well, waiting for spring to come and wake them up. _Only a few hours and I'll finally be able to prove myself._


	4. Attack

**A/N **Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter up. Things have been a bit busy lately...but lucky for me I have a little more time now!

The characters Kagome faces in the chapter were created by me. So, no stealing them!

**Ch.3 Attack**

Miroku and Sango awoke at the same time, Sango noticing that she was being held against a certain monk, and Miroku thanking the gods for letting him awaken in such a position. Sango stared up at the monk, her cheeks turning several shades of pink. "I...uh..."

Miroku couldn't help himself as he felt his hand drift down her back. _Just a little farther...almost there. _Just as his hand made contact with her backside a very blushing Sango could be seen.

SLAP

"PERVERT!" Sango was already standing up and glaring down at the almost unconscious monk. Her hands were in fists at her sides as she continued to glare at him. "And to think I was about to thank you for last night. You are such an idiot...no wonder you and Inuyasha get along so well."

Miroku looked as if he was hurt deeply by what Sango had said. He rubbed his cheek, which now had a nice red handprint, and spoke with intensity. "Surely you can not truly compare me to Inuyasha, Sango...for I am not as bad as he is." He knew just how stupid Inuyasha was, who else would not see the love coming from Kagome. She made it so obvious, as obvious as she could without shouting it out to his face. But no, Inuyasha still had no clue. Sure, he knew the girl cared for him, but he didn't think love possible from her. "Inuyasha is just a plain fool for not realizing what Kagome's offers him. I do hope one day that she realizes she deserves better than the likes of Inuyasha."

She walked off to get her hiraikotsu and placed it on her back as she usually did, holding the handle with one hand to help ease the pressure. She looked over at Shippo who was now rubbing his eyes with his hands like a little kid, and he slowly stood up and stretched. "I agree with you Miroku. Inuyasha doesn't deserve her...I only hope that she can find it in her to love someone else after she is heartbroken by Inuyasha again." Sango was still glaring at the monk. His grabbing her and then speaking of Inuyasha and how he hurt Kagome did not do well for her anger level.

"Is it time to go back to the village?" His voice was full of hope. He wanted to know if Kagome was back yet and if she had lots of candy for him to eat. _Especially those lolli-pops...mmm...those are so good. _He also had another reason for wanting to leave so soon. He had an important question for Kagome, and he had a strange feeling if he didn't ask soon, he would not be able to, at least for a long time.

"As soon as Kilala and Miroku are ready." Sango heard Shippo gasp and wondered why he would do so. That was when she realized she was still glaring at everything around her, including the poor little kit. "Sorry Shippo, Miroku was just being his usual self this morning and then we started speaking of Inuyasha."

Shippo nodded in understanding, for he knew well what Sango had meant. _Some people just never learn...and Inuyasha is an idiot. He only hurts Kagome, that's all he ever does._ With a small sigh, he remembered that they were ready to leave. He looked over at Kilala who was still sleeping and went to wake her up. He started shaking her lightly, but nothing seemed to happen. Her tails twitched a little, but that was all.

"Come on Kilala, wake up! It's time to go back!" Shippo shook her a little more and Kilala's eyes opened a little and she let out a small, pained, mew.

Sango kneeled down beside Kilala and looked at her with concern filled eyes. "Are you alright?"

Kilala tried to stand up, but her legs were shaky and she simply fell on her side to the ground. She gave another pained mew. _This should buy some time. Midoriko, I hope this helps. I hope I am doing the right thing here. I could never forgive myself if something were to go wrong just because I made the wrong decision._

_"Be strong Kilala, you must do this and I thank you."_

Midoriko's voice echoed within Kilala's head. She looked up at the group and mewed again, this time sending chills down their backs.

"She looks sick...is she alright Sango?" Shippo was almost in tears. Kilala was one of the few demon friends that he had, the only full demon friend really. Inuyasha was sort of a friend, but he was too mean to him most of the time to really get that close. Of course, Shippo treated him as a friend, sometimes like a brother when they got into fights and such.

Miroku looked over at Kilala as well. He couldn't sense that anything was wrong with her, but he could be wrong. The cat demon had no reason to pretend she was sick, and she really didn't look or sound well to him. "Perhaps we should let her rest for a few more hours."

"Yes. I'll gather some food for us to eat. I'll be back in a while." Sango took off into the woods with her sword drawn. Hopefully she would find a rabbit somewhere. If not, she could always try fishing by spearing them with her sword. She had gotten good at that over the years of being an exterminator and traveling from village to village helping those that needed her skills.

She had always wanted to be the best for her father. Since she was the oldest, she would one day take over when her father died, since he was the leader of the exterminators. So, she trained and trained, becoming more skilled with each fight. She wanted so much to make her father proud, and she did. She became the best, if only, woman exterminator in the village, and she was happy.

She had even helped her little brother train, and watched him become skilled with his weapon. Though, she could tell that he didn't know if he wanted to become an exterminator. He didn't seem to want to carry on into that life. She supposed it was because he wasn't used to fighting demons and the like, but she sensed that it wasn't what he really wanted to do. But, he too wanted their father to be proud, so he'd come along on his first mission as a demon exterminator, which was what started her entire journey with Inuyasha and the others, it was the day that she lost everything. Luckily, she hadn't been alone for long.

Meanwhile...

Kagome sighed. She had been waiting for a few hours now and still the demon wasn't close enough to her. She looked off into the direction she sensed the shards, but something was wrong. There was only one demon, but there seemed to be something close to it, like a rift or something. Kagome didn't know what this feeling was at the moment, and she was momentarily distracted. "Hmm.."

Something was moving within the bushes, making them shake noisily. Kagome readied her bow and notched an arrow, waiting for whatever it was to show itself. "Aww.." Kagome lowered her bow and arrow when a small, white, fluffy rabbit jumped into the clearing with her. She looked at the ears, one stood up while the other stood almost straight, but the top half flopped down. "So cute...I wonder how it could survive in this era." She hadn't seen much wildlife in this era except for birds and the occasional deer. Luckily she didn't see many terrifying worms and the like.

The rabbit looked at her, its brown eyes glancing at her and its pink nose twitching cutely. Using its long back legs it jumped into the bushes from which it had come. "Hey...where are you going off to?" Kagome asked the now leaving rabbit. For some reason the expression "Curiosity killed the cat" ran through her head which she shook away as soon as it came.

Wondering where it was heading, she decided that there would be no harm in following the creature. She stood up and slung her bow on her back for easy carrying, and placed her quiver of arrows on her back as well. _I wonder if it has a family somewhere..._ Kagome took her first steps into the brushes, pushing them away from her so she could get through.

One branch escaped her grasp and hit her square on the face. "Ow..." she managed to say while spitting out a few pieces of twigs that got caught in her mouth. _Well, that tasted nice._ Kagome continued on her way. When she passed out of the brush, she saw the rabbit again. A flash of white at the edge of the tree line. She also felt that a demon was close by, and it was the one with the shards. _How could I have dropped my senses! Stupid Kagome!_

She stretched out her senses again to see exactly where this demon was. _OH GREAT! _A crash rang through the forest, destroying the trees which were between Kagome and the clearing. She fell to the ground from the shaking of the blast and quickly got to her feat. _Ok, there are now...five demons...three ahead of me and two..._ She turned her head to the side and caught the form of two demons beside her.

One of the demons was a rabbit demon, a very pretty pink female. Her eyes were a dark pink color, and her hair a light pink. She had two floppy ears cascading down with her hair, which was hip length. Her skin was also pink. The only clothing that she wore was a snug tube-top like piece that clung to her every curve. She also wore pink pants that were made of a leather material that also clung to her. _I didn't know they had this kind of clothing in this time..._ On her left forearm there was a gold ring which curled around and she had a fluffy pink tail on her lower back. She had a small nose and three little whiskers on each cheek. Her hands were gloved with dark pink gloves that covered from her fingertips to her elbows. _She's a rather beautiful demon..._

Kagome turned her gaze to the other demon, a female cat demon, but a kind she had never seen before on her adventures. This demon had light blue hair that seemed to frame her face; it was short and ended at her shoulders. Atop her head was a pair of blue cat ears, much like Inuyasha's, just a little pointier. She wore a blue top, which looked more like a strapless bikini top, which only covered what was necessary. She wore dark blue pants that looked much like Inuyasha's except they weren't as baggy is his, and two bracelets clanged together on the right ankle. She wore dark blue sandals that matched her outfit perfectly. Her arms seemed to end in light blue paws for hands with nice retractable claws. Much to her relief, her claws weren't out and ready for a fight, but that also brought up the question of why they weren't. _Wow, she's pretty too..._

"You must be the priestess we were sent after!" The rabbit demon said seductively.

"Sent after? By who?" Kagome was a little fearful of these demons. Her powers may have increased, but not enough to fight five demons at once and live to tell about it. _Oh, why did I have to come out here on my own?_

"Of course," the cat demon purred. Her voice reminding Kagome of Yura, but her voice was smoother. If the demon hadn't been after her, Kagome could have probably loved listening to her talk. "Naraku has sent us after you." Kagome wasn't overly surprised about that fact. She was a collector of the jewel shards and she could sense them, it made perfect sense that Naraku would come after her when she stupidly decided to go out alone.

"He pays quite well to those that do his dirty work." The rabbit demon pitched in. Her voice was soothing; one that Kagome was sure was mostly used to attract men into her trap. Kagome instantly thought of the sirens she had read about in many mythology books.

"You are not part of Naraku?" That was rather odd. Usually Naraku sent his attachments to do his dirty work since he had so many of them. _Why did he need to hire them? What is he up to?_

"Oh my no. Such a horrid thought, to have come from someone in that manner," the cat demon purred. "No, he sought us out. For he has something special planned for you, Kagome."

"You see," the rabbit demon continued, "Naraku wants you dead, but he knows he can't kill you while you remain human since you are a priestess. So," both demons started walking towards Kagome who was stepping backward to keep them away.

She had walked out into the clearing past the tree line and bumped into something behind her. She turned around slowly and looked at yet another demon. This was a lizard demon, his skin a dark green and scaly. His hands were clawed as were his feet. His neck was somewhat long and his head reminded Kagome of a dragon mixed with a snake in a way. The only thing he seemed to wear was a loin cloth thing around his waist and a beaded necklace around his neck. _So, he's the one with the jewel shards...now, where are they?_

She looked the demon over and found that they were in his stomach. _He probably ate them when eating other demons..._ She shivered out of fear. The two other demons she saw were behind him. They both looked exactly the same, except the eyes. They were two hawk demons dressed in priestess clothing. _They must fool people into thinking they are priestesses and then kill when inside the villages to make things easier..._ Their eyes were slightly slanted, their noses a little pointy. Their arms were slender and ended with talons. Each had wings on their back; one had purple wings, the other green. Each one had flowing hair the same color as their wings that went down to their calves. Kagome looked them over and knew that she wouldn't win this fight very easily.

"So, priestess," a slithery voice said from in front of her, "we shall introduce ourselves. The cat demon is Rieko, the rabbit demon is Lidra, the two hawk demons are Talona and Shiru, and I am Ryukan, the leader of this gang. Pleasure to meet ya." Each of them made a small bow as their names were said. _They sure are formal for people who've come here to attack me._

"What do you want with me?" Kagome looked around at them and noted that they were gathering around her. The rabbit demon and the cat demon each grabbed one of her arms, holding her in place as she struggled against them. She knew she was going to have bruises from this later. The one known as Shiru, the one with the purple hair, grabbed her bow and arrows from her and broke them with her strong talons. _Not my bow!_

"Lady Priestess, we have come to help Naraku. He's paying us quite nicely to perform our magic for you." The demon group giggled at Kagome and their leader's words. She tried to struggle a little more, but the cat demon forced something into her mouth when she tried to speak. Whatever it was, it dissolved into her mouth and somehow went down her throat before she could even try to spit it out. Instantly, she felt her limbs go numb.

Kagome glared daggers at Ryukan, and he in turned only smiled back at her. "Now, it is time for us to perform our magic, and you priestess, get to witness it first hand." The beads around his neck began to glow and the demons around her backed away from her. They knew better then to be touching her when the spell was completed. He began chanting weird words over and over again in some sort of a chant. The glow from the beads seemed to intensify and blind her.

Her body began to glow as she struggled to keep the spell away from her. The pink light surrounding her began to tinge the skin of the demons around her, but she could only fight this for so long, for the poison they gave her was wearing her energy out. _I'm not strong enough yet...where's Inuyasha when you need him? _She felt a tingling sensation spread throughout her entire body as her priestess powers began to weaken. _Oh no! My powers! They're gone!_

She heard a chuckle from behind her and heard whispered words, the spell. Kagome looked around her but all she saw was a light purple light engulfing her, blocking everything from her vision. _It's strange...I don't feel hurt. This spell wasn't meant to kill me. No, Naraku would want to kill me himself. They said that I couldn't remain human or my priestess powers would get in the way, and Naraku fears my powers, with good reason._ Kagome gasped when she realized what they were intending to do. _Oh no..._

------

Inuyasha was still stuck in his dream world, a pitch black place. It wouldn't have bothered him so much if he had been asleep. But no, he had to be conscience, just unable to wake up._ Man, I hate this. _He was getting restless and wanted to kill something to take out his frustration from the lack of being able to move his body and open his eyes. He couldn't even dream up a demon for him to kill in the process; all he had was the darkness.

_Kagome is in danger...I can sense it...and I can't get to her. Damn it! Kagome..._ Silent tears ran down his cheek as he continued to sleep, unable to help Kagome when she needed him the most. _I should have told her how I felt while I had the chance, now I won't see her for a long time. So much can happen; she could change her feelings for me. I don't know what I would do if she did... _

He had already made the choice that he would stay with Kagome and break his promise to Kikyo. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice to make really. Kikyo was cold and lifeless, where Kagome was alive and was full of life and energy. Plus, he loved the fact that she was so different from everyone else and she wanted to be different. Kikyo had only wanted to blend in and wanted him to blend in as well, as if she was ashamed of him for being so different.

_Kagome loves me as a half demon, and doesn't mind all the looks I get. She's even greeted with strange looks from the villagers and still she doesn't mind._ He remembered the first time Kagome traveled through a village and the people thought she was a demon. She didn't mind at all really, she knew what she was and didn't mind what others thought of her as long as they didn't think she was evil or something like that. _Kagome, when I see you again, I'm going to tell you how I feel. I swear it. I won't stand to lose you._ Inuyasha sat there in his dream world and kept his senses alert to what might be happening to his Kagome.

It was then that Inuyasha felt the change within him. _The spell...it's lifting. I can go to Kagome! _Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes, the spell still made him a little bit drowsy as did all that extra stillness. He stood up shakily and sniffed the air. _She went towards the west..._ With that, Inuyasha took off into the forest as fast as he could using his powerful legs to jump from tree limb to tree limb a little clumsily at first. _I'm coming Kagome!_

------

Kagome fell to the ground, the purple light which was blinding a few seconds ago, had disappeared. She looked up at Ryukan from her sprawled position on the ground. _Oh great...look what you've gotten yourself into this time Kagome. JUST GREAT!_ She glared daggers at the demons as she slowly stood up.

"Now that the spell is cast priestess," he held up the rabbit that she had followed earlier. She knew if she were to touch it that she herself would transform into a little rabbit, for that was the spell. Whatever she touched or touched her, that was a living animal or something, she would turn into. She had read about the spell, and it took a wise and powerful person, or in this case, demon, to perform it. _Just don't let them touch me...or that rabbit. I can only imagine how long I'd last as a rabbit. Maybe if I can make it back to the village and touch a human, I'll stay exactly as I am! Yes, but to get away from these creeps..._

He walked over to her, but was blinded by a pink light that slowly ate away his arm, which was holding the rabbit. Kagome was angry and upset, and she was afraid for her life. "I WILL NOT LET YOU DO THIS TO ME!" She closed her eyes and clenched her fists to her sides. A burst of purified energy shot from her body, snapped electrically in the air, and injured the demons around her. They weren't dead, just injured, and it gave her the opportunity to do exactly what her mind screamed at her...run.

She ran as fast as her legs would carry her through the field that she was in. She ran until she was back in the forest and could no longer sense the demons around her. The trees caught at her clothes and tore them in places but she didn't pay any attention. She couldn't believe that they had wanted to make her a rabbit. Kagome could just picture herself all black and fuzzy with a cute little tail. After a bit of running, she realized she had traveled quite far with the help of her priestess powers, what powers she had left. _I have to make it...I can't let them do that to me...I won't...let them..._

Her legs were starting to go numb from all the stress she was putting on them. She couldn't even hear herself breathing for her blood was pumping so fast within her veins. The only thoughts she had were of escaping and praying that she made it to a village very soon before anything else touched her. She felt her muscles start to give out and she was about to fall face first in the dirt, but something wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze.


	5. Kagome?

**(A/N) **So sorry the updates are taking so long. Made a few changes to the chapter and reposting it has been a pain. But here it is, the new and improved...

**Ch4. Kagome?**

_"Kilala, you may stop pretending now and be on your way. I would like to thank you for your help in this matter. I know it was difficult for you to trust me."_

Kilala had wondered many times if her pretending to be sick had been a wise decision on her part. For all she knew, this could cause many problems and many mistakes for her as well as her friends. It could hurt her best friend Sango, and Inuyasha would most certainly be hurt. Poor little Shippo would probably take it the worst; he seemed to look up to the girl as if she were his real mother. She felt weighted down from her choice and for once didn't have to pretend to be sick. She let out a small sigh and looked over at Shippo who was sitting beside her patiently waiting for her to get better.

Shippo looked worriedly over at Kilala. He was worried for many reasons though, but two main ones. Sure, he worried about Kilala's safety. She was a good friend and a good fighter who helped protect him and Kagome. That was his other worry. He didn't know why, but he just had a feeling that something wasn't right. Something was wrong with Kagome and he might never be able to ask her to be his mother. He let out a small sigh, for until Kilala got better, they would all have to wait to return.

Kilala thought of what Midoriko had told her in her sleep. She trusted the priestess with her life and knew that she only told her to do what was best for everyone. With that thought in mind, she decided it was finally time to let the sick facade fall. She stretched her paws a little bit, as if she had just gained the ability to do so. Hopefully the group would not think she had been pretending this entire time.

"Mew..." The weak mew caught the attention of those around her. Sango was at her side in an insant. She looked down at Kilala and was about to ask her if she was alright, but was cut off by a very impatient demon.

"Are you alright? Are you better now? Can you stand? Can you..." Sango placed her hand over the demons mouth as Shippo continued to ask muffled questions. She couldn't believe that he could ask so many questions at once and wondered if he was actually expecting an answer. She also wondered when he would finally run out of air.

Sango looked down at Kilala who had stood up weakly on shaking legs. "Are you alright Kilala? Perhaps you should rest a while longer...OUCH!"

Shippo bit Sango's hand so he could finally ask the demon cat a question. "Can you take us back yet?"

Kilala stared into his eyes. They were so full of hope and pleading, and also a hint of fear and sadness. _Why is he affraid? I smell nor sense anything in the area. Maybe he knows something about what has happened._ "Mew..." She shook her head up and down as a sign that indeed, she could carry them back to the village now.

She transformed into her larger version of herself in a burst of flames. The flames died down until they were licking at her feet, waiting for everyone to hop on. Shippo gave a loud yell of joy and hopped onto Kilala's back and sat on her head. He had found that seat to be the best one so far since he didn't accidentally get pushed off when Sango turned to smack at Miroku.

Sango walked over to get on Kilala, but Miroku ran over to stand beside Kilala before she could even get there. She grabbed her hiraikotsu and placed it on her back and walked to Kilala's side yet again. She looked at Miroku who had a big smile on his face. _I wonder what he's up to..._ She didn't have to wait long to find the answer.

"Lady Sango, allow me to assist you." He held out his hands and was about to help her up.

SMACK

Miroku was dazed for a second, rubbing the burning of the handprint on his face away. "What did I do this time? I did nothing wrong, I only offered you my help." Miroku gave her a pained look.

"I know what you were thinking..." Sango climbed up onto Kilala by herself and waited for Miroku to get on behind her. _He better not try anything._

To his credit, Miroku kept his hands to himself as he got on Kilala and sat down behind Sango. She sighed with relief and his eyes held a mischievous gleam as Kilala took off into the air.

He watched as Kagome gasped for air, her body squirming, trying to get away from whatever held her neck. Her hands had come instinctively to his hand, trying to pry his fingers so that oxygen could reach her lungs. Sesshomaru recognized the girl. It was the human woman that travelled around with the half-breed. He had first met her when he went after the Tetsusaiga, taking the pearl from the half-breed's eye and opening the portal to their father's grave.

It had shocked him at first that she would have dared to go up against him at all. He was a powerful demon lord and she didn't seem to care. What really struck him was when she had pulled out the Tetsusaiga from its resting place. His respect for the human woman had gone up a notch then, even more so when she had pointed the sword at him in defiance. She had either been really brave, or really stupid. When she had handed the sword to his half-brother, what fractional respect he had for her was immediately wiped out.

Kagome opened her eyes and looked at the demon lord. "Sess...Sesshomaru?" Her heart was filled with fear in but an instant. She knew he would kill her without a second thought. This would supposedly hurt Inuyasha in the worst way, and the evil Lord would just love that. Before Kagome had much time to react, she felt a pain flow through her body. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to hold back the tears that were forming and the scream trying to escape her mouth.

He looked at her pained face and wondered about it. His hand wasn't gripped around her neck too tightly, not enough to cause the pain that she seemed to be in. He sniffed the air, taking in her scent... _Jasmine...cherry...saltiness from tears...and...Odd. She has had some magic cast on her..._ His eyes looked over her and realized she was now starting to glow a faint purple. He dropped her suddenly, not wanting to get in the way of whatever magic was at work. He knew you don't mess with magic, at the very least when you do not know the kind that it is. For all the years he had lived, all the experience he had fighting monsters and humans, and dealing with the mental trappings of politics, Lord Sesshomaru of the Western lands realized he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

The purple light that surrounded the girl slowly collected itself at her feet. There, it began encircling her. Her ankles now had a light blue stripe on them, starting at the outside part of the ankle and working its way in. The light moved up her legs, which he noted were becoming longer, and if possible, more shapely. Her body seemed to have gone almost rigid from the pain she was in. She now had a light blue stripe on each hip that went in about five inches. Her stomach grew more toned, the slight breeze causing her shirt to billow out allowed him to see this. Her hair grew longer, and held more of a blue tint, which accented the black quite nicely. The hair didn't look as coarse as human hair. Hers had never looked bad, but now it looked almost as silky, if not more than his own.

Her fingernails had elongated into claws, and two light blue stripes appeared on her arms. The light made its way farther up and to her neck. Her eyes were still shut tight as the light made its way to her face. With a burst of purple light, the spell was completed. Sesshomaru lowered his arm which he had raised to shield his sensitive eyes from the last flash. Her cheeks had two light blue stripes and a dark blue crescent moon resided on her forehead. What he thought interesting was the blood red teardrop in the center of the crescent. That was something entirely new. She also had what looked like a golden colored eye-shadow.

His eyes scanned the girl again. His nose sniffed the air tentively. _Her scent has changed. It's still Jasmine and cherry, but it is warped beyond recognition. At least it's not a human smell anymore._ The odd clothes she wore were scattered around her in shreds as her body had grown in the transformation. He watched with a small amount of amusement as the wind carried bits and pieces away. _What useless clothing to be so easily damaged._

Sesshomaru had only come here to check on his lands. He had word of a disturbance, which didn't surprise him. Ever since the loss of his arm, even the weakest of demons had challenged him for his lands. He had had to kill more in the last months and it was irritating. It wouldn't have been so bad if the demons had been strong but they had been pathetically weak. There was no challenge in killing them and that was what he liked the most. It was the fight he liked, not the killing, though that too could be fun. He made a mental note to kill Inuyasha even more slowly when he had the chance. It hadn't been easy, but his lands were slowly coming back to control. All he had to do was kill any demon, half-demon, or human that dared challenge him in the slightest way and the word spread that Sesshomaru was still one to be reckoned with.

The patrol he was on was just a routine one really, but he had been told of a disturbance. He really thought nothing of it, since he usually had disturbances; but when he got closer, he realized it was Inuyasha's wench that was on his lands. Also, the other demons were working for Naraku. He figured this because the smell of Naraku was too faint for them to be attachments. Still, they were trespassers and he couldn't allow them to leave unscathed. He had come quickly once he sensed the power within the area. He had been especially cautious when he sensed the power had been that of a priestess. He may be strong but purifying powers on any demon could be deadly.

The girl at his feet started to move around a little, barely managing to get into a sitting up position. She used her arms to hold herself up as her eyes met his. Sesshomaru let out a low growl and narrowed his eyes. To his delight, he could smell fear, and lots of it. He noticed her eyes for the first time. They had been a brown color but now they were a light blue-green with yellow specks in them. He found it quite an interesting combination of colors but he would never admit that to anyone else. His view of her eyes was quickly lost as she shut them quickly.

Kagome opened her eyes, a dull throb seemingly radiating from every part of her body. She had to close her eyes quickly, the light was too much and stung. So, she opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times until they adjusted. The worst of the pain was throbbing at her temples... _man I wish I had some pain killers right now..._ Her eyes gazed around her, her head turning to her right to look at the woods. It was then she remembered Sesshomaru and turned her head slowly towards him, her eyes gazing up at his. She felt fear, it couldn't be helped. Who would not feel fear when looking into the face that had killed so many without a second thought? "Sesshomaru..." She looked around, seeing if there was any way she could possible get out of this situation.

"You have trespassed onto my lands, wench. For that, you shall pay with your life." He wondered how she would react to his statement. He had hoped it would anger her a little, making her death a little more fun when she fought back, her anger clouding her movements and all thoughts. He wasn't too disappointed.

Kagome glared at him, if he weren't who he was, he would have been cowering in fear for his life. She couldn't take that condescending tone, not from Inuyasha, and not from his older brother. Anger flushed her cheeks and her eyes shone a little brighter with the fire held behind them. "You know my name Sesshomaru, and I'd prefer you use it once before you kill me." She had brought her hand up to her chest for emphasis to her statement and she had seen the flash of nails, which were now claws. She let out a small "eep" and checked her arms. There were markings that should not have been there. Her hands went to her ears to find them pointed. They were actually pointed!

Sesshomaru gave her a warning growl, which would normally have most cowering in fear or begging for their petty lives to be spared. But the strange girl had other things on her mind, and it irritated him to no end. His body tensed a little with anger of his words being ignored by a mere human. Sure, she was a demon now, but she was still human in his eyes. He wondered how much he could tolerate of the little human.

In her weakened state, Kagome tried to digest what had happened. _Okay, I left Inuyasha, followed that rabbit, got attacked by five demons sent by Naraku, got a spell cast on me, managed to escape, and then Sesshomaru grabbed my neck. He touched me...NO! I'm a dog demon! _Her eyes widened at the realization. She stood up shakily and glared at the demon Lord standing in front of her. "Who do you think you are! Grabbing a girl like that and then tossing her to the ground like you did! I'm a demon because of you…you...you...JERK!" Her eyes were slightly tinged with red from her immense anger. It was then that she realized that something else was horribly wrong. Her clothing was nowhere to be seen and that meant that she, Kagome Higurashi, was standing in front of Sesshomaru with not even the minimal amount of decent clothing. She covered herself with her hands as best she could and gave Sesshomaru the coldest glare she could muster.

Sesshomaru growled threateningly at the demoness that stood defiantly before him. No one had ever dared to call him a jerk, and he wasn't about to let her get away with it. He drew out Tokijin and pointed it directly under her chin, barely a centimeter away from her neck. His eyes narrowed into a glare and a slight breeze played with his hair and his tail. _Inuyasha is coming. This could turn rather interesting._

No sooner had the thought entered his head when Inuyasha appeared into the clearing. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air. He had tracked Kagome down this far. He could tell her scent still went a ways ahead and he really didn't want to stop and have a 'chat' with his half-brother, but maybe he knew what had happened in the lands. He glanced at the female demon and said a silent prayer for her. _Must be a complete idiot to have crossed paths with Sesshomaru. I'm the only one that can go against him and live._ "I see you're busy so if you wouldn't mind, can you tell me if you've sensed anything powerful within the area recently?"

Sesshomaru turned to gaze at his little half-brother. For once he hadn't been overly rude and this shocked him greatly; but, of course, that didn't show one bit. "Anything that was there was gone when I came here." He glanced at the demoness at the end of his sword. "I have business to attend to, so leave." Sesshomaru didn't really want to let Inuyasha leave unscathed, but at the time, he didn't have much of a choice. Besides, he wanted to see this little scene play out.

"I have to find someone first." He didn't want to get into a fight with Sesshomaru, and he apparently seemed occupied at the moment, so Inuyasha knew he would have at least some time to look for Kagome. He noticed the female demon look at him. Inuyasha turned and sniffed the air in an attempt to relocate Kagome's scent. He started to leave when he heard a low growl, which surprised Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both. Inuyasha turned his head to look at the woman Sesshomaru was dealing with.

She didn't just glare at him, oh no. Hell would freeze over multiple times from the glare she gave him. And he had the nerve to looked stunned, as if he didn't know why she was glaring at him. "Inuyasha you jerk! It's me!"

"Huh?" He had never seen of or smelled this demon ever, in his life, of that he was positive. The fact that the demoness knew his name was startling enough to him. "I don't know what the hell you're up to but I've never seen you before."

"It's me...Kagome! KA-GO-ME!" She looked at him as if he were an idiot, which she thought he was at the moment. She couldn't have changed that much!

The way she said Kagome's name had Inuyasha feeling slightly odd. Kagome had said her name exactly like that when they had first met, but he wasn't overly convinced of anything. His Kagome was a human, and the woman before him was 100 percent demon. "I don't have time for this..." Kagome's scent was getting fainter by the second and frustration growing just as quickly.

Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. _He doesn't have time for this? He doesn't recognize me?_ "Inuyasha! Please don't leave me!" It was all that she could think of to say to him at the time since it hadn't occurred to her to try the 'sit' command. She watched as Inuyasha's face grew confused for a moment then slightly angry.

"Look, I don't know who you are so keep me out of this!" With that, Inuyasha started off in the direction of Kagome's scent which was becoming a bit faint.

Kagome stared at the retreating form of Inuyasha, the one that had promised to at least protect her and the one she loved. She couldn't believe that he would just leave her like that. What scared her most was that he really didn't seem to recognize her at all. If he didn't recognize her, no one would. It finally occurred to her fully what had happened to her. She was a demon now. She could no longer go home for there were no demons in that time. She couldn't see her family, she couldn't be with her friends for they wouldn't recognize her. They would probably think that she killed 'Kagome' and would attack her. She sniffled a little as tears began to well up in her eyes. She didn't think even Shippo would know it was her. She even considered him as her son and had often wondered if one day he would want her as a mother. That would never happen now.

At that thought, she let the tears fall down her cheeks and onto her clothing, which was now a little too small for her. She didn't notice that Sesshomaru had growled at her and was lifting her off the ground with his right arm, his only arm. She looked down into his eyes and saw her death there. She had often wondered what death would be like, especially with all the times she had seen and been compared to Kikyo. Kagome considered everything going on in her life at that moment. She was failing in school miserably from lack of time doing homework, Inuyasha didn't recognize her and only thought of her as a friend while she hopelessly loved him, her friends would never recognize her the way she was now, she couldn't return to her own world anymore, she had nothing. For once in her life, Kagome Higurashi was all alone and she was all alone with the demon lord Sesshomaru who wanted nothing more then to kill her. She was tired of it all. She was tired of being in love with a man who would never return her feelings, tired of always being compared to Kikyo as if she were a mere copy, and she was tired of having to hide her feelings. She wondered what would happen if the others were to see her now. Would they believe that she was the once human Kagome, or would they believe her to have killed their human friend and kill her in order to get their revenge? She had to laugh at that thought, either way, she was dead. It was either going to be by her friends or by Sesshomaru. _Perhaps I should let him, I have nothing else now…nothing…_

Sesshomaru looked down at the girl in front of him. He delighted in her misery but perhaps it had gone a bit too far; she didn't seem to have a will to fight anymore. That wouldn't do for him, he had wanted a fight. "Are you ready to die?" He had meant for her to get defensive and fight, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Yes, I'm ready. If you could, tell Inuyasha he's a jerk." She hung her head low so he could deal the final blow. If he didn't kill her, someone else would. _Might as well die quickly right?_ Besides, she wasn't skilled enough to stand a chance against Sesshomaru, she knew that well enough from the previous fights.

Sesshomaru grew furious inside. He wanted to fight and here this girl was just waiting for him to kill her. Out of anger, he drew his hand into the air and slashed at her ribcage, left a small amount of poison in the wounds. He watched her body shake in the pain that the poison was causing. It wasn't enough to kill her but enough to cause an extreme amount of pain. He could smell the sweet scent of her blood and wished to taste it, but he refrained from doing so. "Fight."

Kagome was concentrating on the pain. She couldn't figure out why he wasn't killing her. Given their past, she would have thought that he would just love to kill her, just to spite Inuyasha. When the blow to her ribcage came, a nice inch deep slash, she had barely managed not to cry out in pain and shock. She could smell the poison that was within the wound, eating away at her skin with a soft sizzling noise. A look at the wound confirmed that her skin was slowly dissolving and hopefully it'd only be a matter of time before it killed her. "I don't want to fight so if you are going to kill me do it already," she barely managed to whisper. The pain had grown so bad that her body trembled and her legs almost gave out. She clenched her fists , and with her claws, drew blood as well.

Sesshomaru let out a growl and swung his arm, catching her on the side of her body, and sent her flying through a nearby tree and into another with a sickening crash. "Pathetic. I had hoped that in your demon form you would have at least been amusing for a few minutes before I killed you. If you want to die so badly, do it yourself." He walked off into the woods without a second glance at her. He knew that she would most likely die in the woods. He had heard numerous bones break, including her spine, which meant she couldn't move much, if at all. Also, the gash on stomach was still bleeding and, without the proper training of hiding her demon blood's scent, many demons would track her down. She was helpless and he was glad to leave her there. She had given him a headache and had proved to be nothing more then the average demon was these days, a nuisance.

Upon returning to his castle, Sesshomaru noted that Rin's scent was in the gardens to the east of the castle. He entered the wide double doors of aged wood and went straight to his study. He noted that his study was in perfect order as usual and there was a nice stack of papers waiting on his desk. With a sigh, he sat down in his chair behind the desk and looked at the first sheet of paper. _The Demon's Council has been summoned at the request of the Northern Lord Aki. All Lords and Ladies are to be present at the Western Lord's house in two weeks. Any who do not appear on this date shall be banished and replaced immediately._ Sesshomaru stared at the paper and calculated the date. It would give him a week to prepare his castle for the guests. _I wonder what grave matter could have caused the summoning of the Demon's Council? The Council hasn't been summoned since my father last ruled. Could there be another war that's about to take place? Still, should there be trouble, I should have my troops prepared for any battle they might face. Besides, they really need the training._ Sesshomaru went over the preparations in his mind. The Lords and Ladies of the other lands would be coming to his home and he would have it neat and orderly.

Sesshomaru looked down at the rest of the papers on his desk. Most of them were land argument rights, petty documents of claims that would never be fulfilled to either side. He also noticed a few documents stating attacks near his land's borders. He read over them quickly and decided to bring this up to the council. He wouldn't put up with their war effecting his lands, if there even was a war. Knowing those demons, it could be anything. _I swear, they would start a war over anything these days…just to get rid of the boredom._


	6. Man Hunt

**(A/N) **Here is another chapter for everyone to read and hopefully enjoy. Also, I'd like to thank all my reviewers who encouraged me to continue my writing. So, many thanks to you all!

**Ch.5 Man Hunt**

Inuyasha had been looking at the scene for quite some time and was silently cursing whoever had made finding Kagome so difficult. His only clues were the now very faint scents of demons that had once been here. Their scent had far outdone Kagome's at this point which meant that there was nothing for him to go by. _There was more than one demon...possibly three or more. I'm certain of that. But, what did they do with Kagome?_

He recalled the woman that had been with Sesshomaru. _Perhaps she had something to do with Kagome...I mean, she knew her name. _"That's it! She must have been one of the demons that had Kagome! When she realized I was looking for someone, she must have known I was looking for Kagome and tried to pass off as her." He paused in his thoughts. "Not very smart considering I know what Kagome looks like."

Either way, Inuyasha was stuck at a dead end. More likely than not, Sesshomaru had personally dealt death upon the demoness from earlier and his friends weren't here yet so he could gather no more information then what scents could tell him, which wasn't much at all. _Dammit, what's taking them so long?_

_

* * *

_

Kilala flew as fast as she could while following the scent Inuyasha had left behind. She was rather cautious as by now she could also pick up on the scents of several other demons. It was Miroku that voiced her concerns.

"We must be careful," his voice rang out against the sound of the flames at Kilala's feat, "there are several very strong demons in the area."

Sango looked back at the monk sitting behind her. "Do you think they mean to cause us trouble? Could it be Naraku?"

Miroku shook his head. "No, I can't sense Naraku's evil aura anywhere near here. No, these demons have nothing to do with him that I can tell."

"Kilala, can you go around them?" Sango asked as she leaned down to speak into the cat's ear.

She mewed in response and tried to not to wince at the loud smack that rang out from behind her. She looked back to see the monk nearly fall off and quickly dove for the ground. Lucky for Miroku, she landed just as slid off and thudded on his head on the grass a few feet below. _Mortals._

Miroku was about to plead with Sango about how she had been so cruel and he, a mere man, could not help what he had done when he heard voices in the background. Shooshing Sango, who had opened her mouth to let him have a piece of her mind, he checked the wind and was grateful that they were downwind of the demonic presences just ahead.

Kagome was surrounded in a pleasant blackness. There was nothing wrong with her in the world she was now in. She had not been turned into a demon, she had not even been near Sesshomaru, and she most certainly had not been thrown into a tree by the aforementioned demon lord. She did not know what to think when voices softly made their way into her little world. She wanted to forget everything that had happened but the nagging voices were growing louder and reminding her of the things that _didn't_ happen. _What are they saying? I don't understand._

It was then that she felt a sharp pain stab into her side and her eyes sprung open to view the world around her. She saw the ground at eye level, the blades of grass blurring her view of anything else. The pain brought tears to her eyes and she glared up at whoever, or whatever, had disturbed what peace she been experiencing.

"My Lady, the girl has woken," said a low-pitched male voice. Kagome looked up and noticed he was lithely built with long orange hair. He wore what looked like very expensive silk garments of silver and black coloration. The last thing she noticed before another voice cut in was the fact that this man had pointed ears, meaning she was dealing yet again with demons. _What did I do to the gods?_

"It is no small wonder why the girl is awake. Only the dead would have been able to sleep through that kick." Yellow eyes peered down at the disheveled mess on the ground that was in the shape of a woman. She shifted on the comfortable pillows that made the floor of her caravan. "Does she appear to have any particular use?"

The male demon lifted Kagome gently by the throat and looked her face over. He then moved to check her claws and her torso to see what kind of damage had been done. "She seems to be rather damaged, My Lady. She does seem to be healing but it will take a week before she is able to move again as she has had damage to her spine. There is something of interest though," he looked nervously as she cocked her eye at him as if to say 'why didn't you say that first?' "She has a marking on her forehead, a blood red tear drop within a crescent moon."

The woman pulled back part of the curtains that blocked her view of the outside world and peered outside. "Show me the girl." Before she had finished her sentence the man was already dragging Kagome's limp body over to her. "Reveal this mark."

Kagome glared at the woman who was now studying her as if debating what was best to be done. The woman had silver hair that fell down, how far Kagome couldn't tell as when the woman was sitting it seemed to pool around her. Her garments were a shiny silver with a black pattern of wavy stripes here and there. Upon her face were black markings that reminded Kagome of whiskers and on her forehead were four small, silver marks that were angled towards each other. _She looks like she's drowning in those garments._

"With marks like that she must be part of Lord Sesshomaru's court. This will make the ideal gift," she stated and closed the curtain imperiously. "Bring her along and make sure to find suitable clothing befitting a gift to the Western Lord."

"My Lady, if I may be so bold as to ask, would it not be rude to gift him one from his own court?" The male did not want to be the one to insult the great dog demon. If his father was anything to judge him by, doing so was not a good thing for anyone.

"Silly little kitten," she said insultingly, "the gift is that we return her alive. After all, she is a dog and we are cats. He should appreciate it that we did not kill one of his kind."

"As you wish My Lady," he bowed low and ordered a few of the men to carry Kagome.

Kagome watched in fascination as the demon male quickly turned into what looked like an orange tabby the size of Kilala when she transformed and he bolted off into the forest. She would have protested at being treated as some kind of lowly gift but unfortunately her voice wasn't working at all. Neither were her limbs so she couldn't even smack at the hands that were now holding her. _What am I going to do? Sesshomaru is going to kill me when they turn me over to him! _

Kilala watched with keen eyes as the demons made their way through the clearing, though the orange cat had passed a little too close for comfort. She mewed at her companions signaling it was finally time that they could catch up to Inuyasha who would undoubtedly be in a foul mood. She leaned down so that Shippo could more easily hop onto her head.

"My dearest Sango, allow me to assist you," Miroku enticed as he placed his hand on Sango's backside.

**SMACK!**

**

* * *

**

Inuyasha saw them come into the clearing with a snickering Shippo on Kilala's head and a red faced Sango. Miroku had a nice hand print on his cheek and a dazed expression indicating he was still an idiot that could not keep his hands to himself. "It's about time you all got here. What kept you?"

"Well, aside from the pervert that could not keep his hands to himself, there were a few demons in the way so we had to wait for them to leave before we could continue," Sango explained as she quickly hopped off Kilala before Miroku could decide to 'help'.

Inuyasha's ears perked up. "Did you happen to catch who they were? Were they involved with Naraku?"

Miroku shook his head, "Unfortunately no, I couldn't sense Naraku's evilness anywhere in the area. I couldn't catch much but they seemed to be heading to Sesshomaru's castle."

"Feh, like I care about that. I caught a few scents here but nothing much to go by. They just seem to disappear right here, so whoever it was covered their tracks really well," Inuyasha complained. He didn't like not knowing what happened and especially didn't like that whoever it had been had Kagome. "Can you guys gather anything?"

Sango looked around the clearing. As far as she could tell nothing had happened here save for Kagome being captured and possibly flown out of here. There were no tracks leading to or away from the clearing. It was then that she spotted a few feathers that had blown quite a few feet away. "I found a few feathers, but that could mean nothing."

Miroku went over to Sango and took the feathers from her hand. "These are most certainly demon feathers, meaning whoever has Kagome probably flew her out of here." He sighed as a perplexed expression settled on his face.

"What is it Miroku?" Sango asked, her voice laced with concern.

"There was magic at work here. I can't tell what kind it was but it was very powerful," he said and glanced at Inuyasha. He knew his next idea was not going to go over well. "Perhaps we should discuss this with Kaede? She may have heard something about these demons or might even be able to tell the last spell that was cast by examining the feathers. Whatever magic they used is beyond my capabilities to determine." He had tried to sound as reasonable as possible.

Inuyasha was not happy. Going to Kaede would add a week even if they traveled at their fastest. An entire week that Kagome would be in the hands of the enemy. Inuyasha growled and did the one thing he knew could relieve some of the stress. He jumped over to the forest and punched a nearby tree. "We don't have time for that! Kagome is in their hands and the longer we don't go after them the longer she stays there…for them to do gods knows what!"

"Inuyasha," Miroku calmly voiced, "we have no clues to go by except the ones we have already found. As none of us know where they lead, Kaede is our best choice at the moment."

Inuyasha growled again in frustration and looked at the group. "Fine, but no breaks on the way there. We have to get there as soon as we can."

No one argued with at this point. They knew Kilala could last a couple of days but at some point there would have to be rest; however, now was not the best time to bring that up. For now, all was silent as the group rushed to pack up camp and started on the way to Kaede.

* * *

Kagome looked around at her surroundings. It was a pastime she was getting used to given the fact that her spine had yet to fully heal. Her muscles still felt a little stiff and she needed to be carried but she had regained the ability to talk at the very least. She noticed that her eyesight was far better than it used to be and little noises rang in her head sometimes giving her a headache. _No wonder Sesshomaru is always grouchy._

From what she gathered, she was currently with a group of thirty cat demons, ranging from tigers to tabbies. Very few of them had any distinguished markings, which she had learned that only those of noble blood had. There were exceptions few and far between as the only other way to gain markings was to grow powerful enough to be on par with a noble. Those that managed it were still looked down upon and their rank was just a little higher than the normal demon commoner.

Six of the guards carried their leader, who she found out was the Lady of the East. She was, according to her calculations, roughly twenty-seven in human years if appearances were anything to judge by. In demon years, Kagome could only imagine how old she was; however, she wasn't dumb enough to ask. She had a feeling that if she caused any problems the cat demoness would have no trouble flaying her with those sharp kitty claws.

Eight other guards carried a longer carriage that held five female demons, the Lady's hand maids from what Kagome could gather. She could hear them giggling about pathetic the little dog demon they had found was being carried due to her weakness. There were also some musings as to whether or not if they threw a stick if she would fetch it. Kagome really didn't care for most of them. The only one, Hanako, was the only one that seemed to have any kindness about her situation. When the others were asleep she would whisper down to Kagome and encourage her that she would be returning home soon. _Hah! If she only knew._

Still, her thoughts returned once again to the friends that she had been without for a week now. Kagome recalled all the times she would disappear to her time asking for a week or two of time to herself so that she could focus on her studies and catch up on homework. With a sigh, she recalled all the fights her and Inuyasha had been in, all the times she had to sit him to protect Shippo, all the times he had come to rescue her from whatever trouble she had gotten herself into. She looked up at the starry sky and wondered what they were up to. How worried were they that she had been missing for so long? Had they told her parents? Had they even figured out what had happened to her? Would they even be coming to look for her? So many questions filler her mind that night as she fell into a troubled sleep.

* * *

Sesshomaru looked down once again at the stack of papers he was currently catching up on. That was the ultimate price on scouting out his lands and trying to track down Naraku, a mountain of paperwork when he returned. Not only was that the case, he had to make sure everything was ready for his fellow Lords and Ladies, whatever personal maids the females just could not live without, any guards they would have brought for protection, and a few stacks of paper alone on the plans for the week they would all be staying and the events that were supposed to take place. It was no wonder one of these meetings hadn't taken place in such a long time.

There was another problem with this as well. It would give any male a chance to challenge him for his lands should they feel like throwing their lives away and the worst part…a chance for all the uptight females to attempt to win his attentions. As he saw it, this was nothing more than an opportunity for a massive headache and possibly a chance of killing someone, though that might be frowned upon.

The other problem was hiding Rin for an entire week while they were around. It was not that he cared what the other demons thought about him. He simply couldn't be there at every single moment to protect the girl from anyone that might use her to get to him. Sesshomaru hated the idea that any person meant enough to him to cause him to worry about things such as that, but it could not be helped. The girl had grown on him…plus she kept Jaken in line. _Rin will not like being cooped up in her rooms for an entire week; but, I cannot risk her being seen. Perhaps there is some way she can be entertained?_

"My Lord!" chimed in Jaken's shrill voice. He sputtered a bit at the annoyed glance he received in return. "My apologies, but something important has happened that required me to tell you immediately!"

Sesshomaru looked down upon the kappa. "I suggest you say it quickly instead of wasting my time, Jaken."

"It's about the Southern Lord. He was ambushed before he could reach these lands and slain by a mercenary group of demons. His only son, Ichiro, has taken over and is taking his place next week at the meeting of the Lords and Ladies," Jaken ended looking a blue-ish green, as he had said it all in one breath.

"Do we know who hired the mercenary group?" Sesshomaru inquired.

"My Lord, there are whispers that Naraku hired them to dispose of him," Jaken said with caution. He knew that his lord would not be pleased one bit with the news that Naraku's men had been so close to his lands and let alone had the nerve to kill a demon lord.

"Is that all Jaken?" He looked down at the nervous kappa that seemed to be afraid to be the messenger of bad news.

"Uh, yes my Lord," Jaken said questioningly. He had expected outrage, perhaps something breaking, or him being tossed. Lord Sesshomaru seemed to stay perfectly calm.

"Then be gone, there is much business to be taken care of. As it is, that stack of papers needs to be filed," he pointed at a giant stack of papers twice as tall as Jaken.

Once Jaken left the demon lord leaned back in his chair, about as relaxed as he could possibly get. _So, the demon lord of the south has fallen and his son has taken his place. A rather quick succession at that. Odds are the son worked with Naraku to get his place as Lord. As such, I will have to keep a close eye upon him. Perhaps Inuyasha's wench has some information on the demons? After all, they seem to have more encounters with Naraku and his henchmen more than any other group I know of. Perhaps a visit is necessary._

_

* * *

_

Dust flew as Inuyasha skidded to a halt in front of Kaede's hut. After a lengthy travel they had finally made it back to the village where it had all started. In his hurry, he walked into the hut without knocking and asked, "Hey Kaede, you here?"

"As loud as ever, Inuyasha. Ye have no need to yell, I am here," she responded in her old, yet kind voice. She was kneeling at the pot in the middle of her floor, stirring occasionally as the stew within boiled. "You have returned faster than I had anticipated." She peered up with her one good eye and noticed how dirty and disheveled the half demon looked. "Is something amiss?"

"You got that right. Kagome's gone and we were wondering if you could figure out who was behind it," Inuyasha hastily let out.

Miroku, Sango, Kilala, and Shippo entered the hut upon hearing that Inuyasha had already barged in and went straight to the problem at hand. Miroku was the first to speak, "Lady Kaede, an honor as usual," he said with a bow. "I am guessing by your expression that Inuyasha has told you about Kagome?"

Kaede nodded. "Indeed he has, though has given me nothing to work with as of yet."

Sango handed her the feathers she had found in the area where Kagome could last be tracked. "We found these in the area. We know there was magic used and there were at least three demons there. However, there was no scent trail leading away from the scene or any tracks. It's like they vanished into thin air."

"Yeah, Inuyasha couldn't smell a thing!" Shippo added, proud that he had something to say that could contribute to the conversation.

"What's that supposed to mean you little brat?" Inuyasha yelled as he always did when Shippo said anything remotely questioning about his abilities. Without waiting for an explanation, he swiftly punched downward onto Shippo's head.

"Owie! You jerk Inuyasha. It's not my fault your nose couldn't sniff out Kagome!" Shippo wined.

"Like you could do any better!" Inuyasha quickly deflected.

"ENOUGH!" interjected Miroku. "I am sure Lady Kaede would like some silence so she can figure out what happened to Kagome. I assume you both wish to find out what happened, correct?"

Both grumbled at the interfering monk, but they remained silent under Kaede's glance in their direction. She looked down at the feathers and studied them for quite some time. Obviously they came from a bird demon of some sort. _It was probably a hawk of some kind, which is odd as most birds tend to work alone or in pairs at most. This narrows down the demon group that it could be greatly._ She let out what remained of her once powerful priestess abilities and studied the magic that mingled with them. _I see, it seems to alter the power…at least that is its main purpose, but to what effect? Did they mean to change Kagome's spiritual power into something else or get rid of it completely?_

"Inuyasha, tell me everything that happened. Every detail that you can think of," she encouraged.

Inuyasha tried smacked his head in irritation. "Now I remember what happened. I was sleeping and dreaming about," he looked at the group and pause, "stuff. Anyway, Midoriko appeared and told me that Kagome would be attacked by Naraku's demons and that I shouldn't go looking for her. When I told her to go to hell she put me under a spell so that I wouldn't wake up. By the time I woke up Kagome was gone and so were the demons that attacked her. She said Kagome would be gone for a long time…"

"And you decided to keep this to yourself until now?" questioned Shippo with tone of incredulousness.

"I hadn't thought about it until now alright?" Inuyasha yelled back with an angry gleam in his eyes.

"Inuyasha, calm thy self," Kaede intoned. "This information is indeed troubling. If what you say is true, and what the magic I sense on this is true, then I implore you…do not go looking for Kagome. There are bigger things here than we can hope to figure out if those were indeed Midoriko's wishes."

"Lady Kaede, I gather you have found something out about the spell that was used?" Miroku questioned. His wise eyes expressed the fact that he knew whatever they were going to hear from her was not going to be good.

"Aye, I did indeed. This spell means quite a few things, some good…quite a few bad. It will affect one person the most…and I see we are indeed graced with their presence at an uncanny time," she said as she looked at the newcomer that appeared within the doorway.


	7. Second Chances

**(A/N) **Here's another chapter for everyone to read and hopefully enjoy!

**Ch.6 Second Chances**

All heads turned towards the direction of door with varying degrees of surprise.

"Sister Kikyo, I must admit I am not surprised you have decided to visit," Kaede said, turning back to the pot to stir the stew that would be done soon. "Please, have a seat so that we might discuss what is going on."

No one was more surprised than the half demon whose nose was now lying to him. He had smelled a human, a normal human, coming in their direction. It was a scent that he couldn't place but one that tickled his mind. He had known that scent at one point or another. It had bothered him the entire time it kept drawing closer to the hut. _Kikyo? What is she doing here?_

It was odd seeing Kikyo here once again. Then again, given the current circumstances seeing her at all was a rare sight. For some time now she demanded the respect of distance from any living creatures besides her soul stealers. Granted, given the pull that the rest of Kagome's soul had upon hers that distance couldn't be helped. Getting too close to the group usually caused her a great amount of stress.

* * *

Kikyo looked around the room at all the stunned faces. She had come here to get information and nothing more than that, though she herself was surprised having expected to see the cause of concern. Upon looking around the small hut, she could not spot Kagome anywhere. She quickly determined by the group's pained expressions that something had happened to the girl. _That would explain partially what happened to me._

Kikyo had been doing her normal routine that had gone on for quite some time. She was wandering around to help those that she could, gather what souls were in the area so that she might stay alive a little longer, and attempted to track down the horrible demon Naraku. She had been in the middle of a small forested region when she first felt that something was indeed wrong. Her soul stealers were swirling around her as normal but they seemed agitated. Trying to determine the source of their discomfort, she glanced around the woods, but could not see or sense anything that would put them at such a state of unease.

_What is happening? _It was then the first pangs of pain hit her. It felt as though a horse had bowled her over and was then trampling over her repeatedly. She cried out and fell to the ground. She never knew how long she was laying there writing in pain but by the time she was able to move again it was already dark. Her soul stealers, she noticed, had wandered off at some point during whatever was going wrong. _What is wrong with me? _She sat up slowly and winced at the pain she discovered was still coursing throughout her body. Looking down at herself she could find nothing that would indicate the amounts of pain she was in. What Kikyo did notice, however, was that her skin was no longer as pale as it had once been. She felt differently as well. Even through the pain she could feel something strange, something that had become foreign to her for it had been gone for so long. _I feel…alive._

Several scenarios ran through her mind. The first being that perhaps the girl that followed Inuyasha around, the one that shared her soul with her, had been killed. The problem was that even if the girl were to die and Kikyo possess the full soul, this would not have been the effect to have taken place. With a soul like Kagome's, she would have existed as her dead self but would likely have no need for other souls for quite some time. _This could be a trick of Naraku's doing. _She thought about it for some time. This was the kind of mind game that someone like Naraku would pull. He was most certainly evil enough to give her this glimmer of a hope that she was human again.

Kikyo stood up shakily. Muscles that she had realized were so strained tried to prevent her from rising but she did anyway. She knew she had to make it to a village. In this condition she would not last long if a demon decided they wanted to kill her.

After several hours of trudging along, she finally came to a small village that had already settled down for the night. The town guards were wary of her at first as they simply saw a figure moving in the dark. Once they noticed her priestess garb they quickly let her in without hesitation.

"You there, take her to your home for the night. I shall continue to keep watch for any demons," the taller of the guards stated.

The shorter one nodded, "Yes sir!"

"And quiet down. You're either going to wake the entire village or announce to demons that we're here," he chided. _New recruits…_

Kikyo followed the young man to his home and gratefully walked inside. It had been some time since she had the luxury of staying indoors. It had been even longer since the last time she had been in someone's home without them looking at her suspiciously due to her dead looking state. She thought back to some of the troubles her being dead had caused. At one point, someone had even tried to exorcise her. The poor man hadn't stood a chance.

"Miss?" the young man inquired.

"My apologies. Thank you very much for allowing me to stay here. Tell me if you can, do you know where the village Priestess Kaede is from resides?" She had to get to her sister. If something had happened to Kagome or Naraku was trying something completely evil, she would know. Somehow she always seemed to know.

"Yes my lady. She used to visit here occasionally when her health was better. Her village is about a week journey. Maybe five days if you hurry," he replied.

Kikyo made sure to thank the young guard before he left to go back to his duty of guarding the village from any dangers that might come in the night. As she settled down she also wondered if perhaps Naraku had been killed and this was somehow a result of the sacred jewel being used. _No, _she though shaking her head, _if there was a fight with Naraku on that scale I would have known._ Straying thoughts aside, she wondered at how Inuyasha would react if he happened to be there when she arrived.

* * *

Kikyo moved over to Kaede and sat down next to her. It was an odd feeling to have but she seemed to get comfort from being next to her younger sister. She looked over at a particular half demon that was currently staring at her. "Inuyasha," she said as if just to confirm that she knew he was there. She had yet to forgive him for the past. It may not have fully been his fault, but he had still played a part in her death and in her revival.

Inuyasha stared at her as she sat down as mixed feelings flitted across his face. He was angry with her for not trusting in him enough to know he would never have killed her for the jewel, saddened by the loss of all the time they could have had together, regret that he wasn't there for her to save her like he should have been, and guilt that she had paid the ultimate price indirectly because of him. It was her trust in him that had gotten her killed. "Kikyo," he nodded as the guilt part of emotions took him over and his ears sunk flat against his head.

She regarded him for a moment before coldly turning her head and addressing Kaede. "I gather you know why I have come?"

Kaede nodded sagely as the started to poor the soup into bowls for everyone. She did not speak until after everyone had their fair of food and had settled down comfortably. "The reason Kikyo is here is due to Kagome. The spell that was used upon her was supposed to change her, transform her into whatever she had contact with next. My guess is that the demons recited the spell and were going to use something harmless to throw at her, thus having a better ability to kill her or let her forever be on her own in a situation in which death was most likely."

Inuyasha cut in, "You mean that turned Kagome into something different? " He stood up and paced back and forth in agitation. His Kagome, the second girl he had failed to protect now, was probably some deer in the forest he had been in.

Kaede nodded. "Now, the bad news…"

"What do you mean the bad news?" Inuyasha yelled. "Kagome is probably wandering around helpless and I wouldn't have a clue what she is to even begin to turn her back!" He continued his pacing around the small hut.

"Inuyasha, let us hear Kaede out," Miroku instructed. He too could understand his frustration but that was not helping them listen to everything Kaede had to say. _I can only hope he has the ability to stay here and listen to everything._

"As I was saying, there is good news and bad news," she turned to Inuyasha and gave him a stern look that could only mean for him to remain silent and listen. "The bad news is that the spell worked. As you can tell, Kikyo is now human again due to the sever of ties between the soul residing in Kikyo and the soul residing in Kagome."

"You mean Kagome's soul is permanently severed?" Sango asked with great concern lacing her voice. Tears started to blur out her vision as she imagined Kagome with only part of her soul left. It was one thing to allow your soul to be split but still whole, now it was not even at one with itself.

Inuyasha sniffed the air instinctively. _It's true! Kikyo no longer smells of death and dirt! _He stared over at her and noticed that she only ever looked at Kaede and the soup that was within the bowl. He could tell that she was no longer used to actually having to eat to survive and was trying to secretly enjoy eating every bite.

"Now there is a bit of hope. Kagome's soul could only have been severed completely like this under one condition. She would have to have the opposite energy that she used to have and thus, the tie would not hold between that great a distance," Kaede instructed.

Miroku pondered this. "Kagome had purification energies before. Do you mean to say, Lady Kaede, that Kagome's energy has turned…demonic?" His face was both inquisitive and shocked. If this were true then their Kagome would be a demon.

"That is exactly what I am suggesting has happened. I am guessing Kagome struggled with the demons or ran into one after running away from the scene, probably the latter as I'm sure the ones that did this would have kept their distance," she mused aloud.

Inuyasha did not know what to say. Shock registered across his face as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks…well, like a ton of bricks would affect a human. "I know where Kagome is…" His pacing became ever more agitated. "How could I have been so stupid? The demoness I saw was Kagome!"

Shippo looked over at Inuyasha and asked, "What demoness?"

Inuyasha rubbed his hand over his face. "On the way to save Kagome, I happened to run in on Sesshomaru holding a weak demoness. I asked them if they noticed Kagome and she said she was Kagome…and I didn't believe her."

Kaede knew that admitting that fact hurt the half demon more than anyone knew. It was trust, after all, that had caused quite a few problems in his life. "Inuyasha, ye could not have known that it was indeed Kagome. Though if what is said is true, that would make Kagome the same type of demon that Lord Sesshomaru is."

Inuyasha was both scared and angry at the same time. He knew Sesshomaru had a temper and he had no idea what such a demon would have done with Kagome. The last he saw of them both was Sesshomaru getting ready to kill her. At the same time, he was angry with Kagome and he knew he had no right to be. It was an anger born of jealousy. She had become the demon that he had always dreamed of being. The one wish he had worked so hard to obtain and suffered so much for…and it was happening to her. He shook his head to clear his mind of all thoughts. "You're sure Kagome is alive?"

Kaede nodded. "If Kagome had been killed then the entirety of the soul would have gone to Kikyo. As it is, she is rather week as it is still only a partial soul and she can no longer take others to sustain herself."

Inuyasha looked over at Kikyo and once again felt a sense of guilt. His inability to protect Kagome had put her in a situation he wasn't even sure she wanted. _I can never seem to get any of this right. If I had just been better, none of this would have ever happened._

It was Kikyo's voice that broke his mental berating of himself. "Can Kagome still call her soul back from me?"

Kaede looked at her with a saddened face. She knew that what Kikyo was really asking was if she would die for good if she happened to get near Kagome. "It should not happen as the energies are so different; however, it is still possible. Though I do not think the soul would go willingly back unless it was under the direst circumstances. As it is, you should be fine."

Kikyo nodded. She was relieved that she did not have to worry about what soul she had left leaving her. It was a weight that had pressed upon her for quite some time, due to the fact that both Inuyasha's group and she herself were after Naraku, and she sagged with relief. Quickly realizing that people were watching her, she straightened up and put the cold expression back on her face. "When are you going to go in search for her Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked over at the surrounding faces. He wanted to go after Kagome. Everything within him screamed that she was only going to be safe at his side and that he could not let yet another person down. However, it was Midoriko's voice that haunted his mind. She seemed so real and so certain that the best path for Kagome and for everyone was for him to not go looking for her. "Get some rest. I have to think about this."

Kikyo watched the half demon bolt and wondered about him. _He has changed from the brash half demon I used to know. In most cases he would have given them till morning at best. Which begs the question, what is making him hesitate? _Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden burst of conversation that began once the rest of the group was sure Inuyasha was out of hearing range.

"Kikyo, what are you going to do now that you have changed?" questioned Sango. She didn't know much about the priestess before her except that she too had been tricked by Naraku. For that alone she felt a sort of kinship with the woman.

Kikyo looked over at Sango with a reluctant expression on her face. It had been so long since she had anything to do with normal people that conversation was not something she was still proficient in. Even fifty years ago she was not much of a conversationalist. "I have not made any plans for myself as of yet."

Miroku glanced over at Sango and then the rest of the group as his mind raced with ideas and thoughts about the situation they were all now placed in. "Lady Kikyo, are you still in search of Naraku as we are?"

Kikyo half glared at the mention of the name that still haunted her after more than fifty years. "Yes, though I have had no luck in finding him. There are a few rumors I have heard that he has been seen in the southern regions, but I have yet to confirm them."

Miroku nodded at her response. It would figure that someone like Kikyo would be able to find out more about Naraku's whereabouts then they would. After all, Naraku still seemed to be as drawn to Kikyo now as he was in the past. "I may be stepping out of bounds here, but I was thinking that you should travel with us in our searches. Someone of your talents and looks would be most welcome." He ended his idea with a sly grin, his true personality finally making its way to the surface.

"Pervert!" Sango screamed at the monk as she slapped in across the back of his head, which also caused him to spill some his stew onto his robes and scream out a bit as the hot liquid seeped through. "What he means to say," she pointedly glared at the monk who was wiping the liquid off as best as he could, "is that you would be a great addition to the group. Especially now that we need to recover Kagome, your help as a priestess would be nice to have. Also, I don't want to be the only woman around while we are on our search," she added in a half whisper.

Kikyo let a small smile grace her lips in response to Sango's plea for companionship on the road while searching for their friend. She then thought of Inuyasha and how he might respond to such a plan. Surely he would not want her tagging along as a reminder of every pain he had suffered in the past and most certainly in the present. "Perhaps I could, but it would be up to Inuyasha as to whether or not I am welcome to join your group."

Shippo yawned and stifled a small sob as he once again missed the presence of the closest thing he had to a mother. He looked over at Kikyo and noticed that she too wanted somewhere she could now belong; it was a look he remembered having when he had first met Kagome and Inuyasha. "You don't have to listen to Inuyasha you know. Just tell him you want to come and we'll back you up."

Sango smiled at her and Shippo. "We will. Anyone that is after Naraku is a friend of ours."

Kikyo tilted her head to the side. "You are the one with the brother that Naraku has under his spell correct?" She had heard the story off-handedly during her travels and had met the boy on rare occasion. He seemed to her just one of Naraku's errand boys, a poor boy trapped farther in his web than either she or Inuyasha had ever been. Sure, she had died but that had been the end of it. For the boy, he had to suffer every single day knowing what he was doing was wrong deep on the inside.

Sango's eyes clouded over a bit at the mention of her brother, Kohaku. "Yes, my brother is kept under Naraku's spell by the use of a shikon jewel shard. I still don't know what to do about since the removal of the shard will kill him." She started to tear up at that point and Miroku, ever the gentleman, put his arm around her for comfort.

Sango leaned into him for once as her fragile mind slipped into memories of her brother and how life used to be before Naraku had happened. That was until she felt the pressure from her shoulder shift lower and lower until…

**SMACK!**

"You pervert!" She yelled at him, this time knocking him to the ground with the force of the hit. "Is there any time you are actually serious?"

"Sango, you wound me," he said in a convincingly saddened voice. "I was merely trying to comfort you in the best way I know how." He sat up and rubbed the side of his face. That one had really hurt.

Kikyo watched the display the two were putting on and how the baby fox demon seemed to react as if this were just a normal day. "I see what you mean by not wanting to be alone with certain people."

* * *

Inuyasha sat in the tree where his fifty year-long imprisonment had begun. He had a tough decision to make. Should he go after Kagome, which was something his heart told him he needed to do? Or, should he listen to the words of Midoriko and let Kagome go on her own path for a while. _She did say that I would see Kagome again…that she would be fine. I also know she isn't dead due to what Kaede said; but, can I just leave her and not do anything about it? _He growled in frustration. What was the right thing to do?

He pondered over something else Midoriko had said. For now, Naraku thought that Kagome was dead and would no longer try to go after her. _But what if she's wrong? What if all of that was a trick? _With all these thoughts going through his head, Inuyasha fell into a deep, haunted sleep.

He was there again; all that was around him was black. He could see no Kikyo this time and no Kagome. A light shined down upon him and in front of him was Midoriko once again. She smiled sadly at him and sighed in exasperation. "Inuyasha, I know you do not like the decision that you need to make, but you must do it for the good of all people involved."

Inuyasha clenched his fists. "How could this be for the good of all people? I'll be abandoning Kagome! Who knows what could happen to her!" He knew he should be more respectful to the very powerful priestess, but he couldn't help the anger that flowed through him. This just wasn't fair. Life had been cruel enough and now he was going to lose another person to the power known as fate.

"Inuyasha, believe me when I say that if you go after her, it will end far worse than you could imagine. Kagome has her fate as you have yours. Both of your paths are going to be very difficult and very long, but you must overcome it." Her voice was full on conviction as she spoke. It was like she knew everything that could happen with any given decision.

Inuyasha paced back and forth within the small amount of light within the black void. "How do you know Kagome is going to be alright?"

Midoriko smiled. "She is strong. Far stronger than most give her credit for," she said and pointedly looked at him. "Kagome will make it back to you Inuyasha, which I can promise as long as you don't go searching for her. Take your group and track Naraku, weaken him little by little. When Kagome comes, the final battle will take place and those within Naraku's snares will be set free."

Inuyasha swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew what he had to do and he also knew he would never forgive himself for it.

Amber eyes opened and noticed the birds of the early morning chirping loudly around him. With a sigh, he jumped down and landed softly on his feet like every other time he had waited for Kagome to come out of the well. With that, he took off towards the hut where his friends were currently waiting and chatting amongst themselves. He pulled back the covering to the entryway and simply said, "Eat and then we are to go after Naraku."

"Inuyasha," Miroku called out, "we were wondering if you would allow Priestess Kikyo to come along with us and aid in our efforts to go after Naraku?"

Inuyasha looked over at Kikyo and noticed that she refused to meet his gaze. It was as if she expected him to say no, which he felt he should on the basis that though she helped them she also often got in the way. After an uncomfortable pause he simple said, "Keh, what do I care? Just don't slow us down."


	8. Baby Steps

**(A/N) **So, here's another chapter. I hope everyone has enjoyed the story so far! Also, thank you for all the reviews that you've sent it!

**Ch.7 Baby Steps**

Kagome gritted her teeth in frustration for the hundredth time that day. Her back had finally healed fully and it was deemed by 'her highness' that Kagome was fit enough to walk on her own and at the same pace as the rest of the group. She cringed as every muscle protested the prolonged workout that she was being subjected to. According to the Lady of the East, Kagome should be fit enough to keep up with the rest of them and now had to prepare to be a proper gift to Lord Sesshomaru.

Basically, this meant hours of aggravation as the hand maids scrubbed her clean in the cold waters of the nearby river. Of course it was the tiger demons that did this as they seemed to be the only ones around inclined to go into the water willingly. Once at least three layers of skin had been rubbed off of her, in accordance with the Lady in order to get the stench of dog off of her, they would move on to washing her hair and making sure not a single tangle could be found. _She treats me like I'm some kind of filthy puppy! _

After the embarrassment of bathing in front of so many strangers, Hanako got the pleasure of showing Kagome how to keep her claws pristine and well groomed. Kagome rather enjoyed what little time with Hanako that she got.

"Honestly Lady Kagome, how do you not know even the basics of taking care of your claws? They need to be maintained on a regular basis as they grow so quickly," she lectured, taking Kagome's hand in hers and filing the overgrown nails down.

"My apologies. I'm just not used to doing anything like this," Kagome responded. Most people in her era simply bit their nails to keep them in line. The more girly types went somewhere to get them done by a professional; but, she didn't have that kind of money and honestly they wouldn't last long given what she normally did.

"You are not used to taking care of yourself?" Hanako asked. It seemed rather odd that a dog demoness, especially one of the royal courts, wouldn't know how to take care of herself. Surely she couldn't be so spoiled as to have never taken care of herself? She didn't seem to act that way.

"What I mean is it's been so long since I've been in a situation where personal care was needed. You see, I fight a lot of demons so things just happen naturally," Kagome explained. _I'm not really lieing about it. I do fight a lot of demons. _

Hanako tilted her head to the side and stared at her for a few moments. Her clawed hands paused with the filing as she tried to understand the girl before her. "You fight, Lady Kagome? Is that not seen as quite the disdain upon your reputation as a lady?" She did not know what to think about Kagome. She seemed so different from every female demon she had ever met.

"Well, I travel quite a bit and a girl needs to know how to take care of herself. I always had friends to take care of me though if anything really bad happened," Kagome explained. She wondered for a moment if she should really be having this conversation.

"If I may inquire, what happened to your vanguard? Were they killed and that is why we found you all alone?" Hanako could only imagine the grief she was going through. _At least she will be happy upon her return to Lord Sesshomaru. He will make sure she is well taken care of._

"I had wandered off admittedly," she said, her cheeks flushing with a bit of shame. "I shouldn't have done so and I was attacked by a group of demons. Luckily I managed to escape but…" she paused. Surely she couldn't tell her what had happened between her and Lord Sesshomaru. If she did then they would certainly just kill her now and be done with it. "Uh…I ran into another one. He injured me quite a bit and left me to die."

"My apologies Lady Kagome. It must have been quite the ordeal," she consoled. With one last flick of the wrist, Hanako smiled. "There, they are as good as new. Do not fret though, Lady Kagome, for you shall be home in a few more days and presented to your Lord as a survivor."

Kagome laughed nervously at that and then flushed when she noticed a man come over with what looked like layers and layers of silk. He quickly handed them to Hanako and leered at Kagome for a few seconds. Kagome was bright red and she tried to hide behind Hanako. "The Lady demands she be dressed appropriately for the duration of our travels. The duty is yours to make her presentable…as you seem to have an attachment to the stray." With that, he turned on his heel and walked back to where Kagome knew the rest of the demons were lounging around for what she could only term a cat nap.

Hanako had Kagome stand up and with skilled hands quickly put the kimono on her. The one for today was a light blue with light pink flowers scattered across the garment. She placed Kagome's hair into a messy looking bun and placed tendrils delicately to make it seem like the wind had a way with her. In the end, Kagome could only stare at her reflection and noticed just how much she had changed. Another reminder of what had happened to her and how much everything was going to change. _A short lived change if Sesshomaru has anything to do with it._

"There Lady Kagome, you look stunning," Hanako proclaimed as she noticed her stare at her reflection in the running waters of the river. "Come now, you must wear these and protect your feet." She then slid over a pair of wooden sandals towards Kagome.

Slowly, she put them on and tripped in the process of standing up. Lucky for her, Hanako held her up with a concerned look on her face. "I'm fine," Kagome assured. "I'm just not quite used to walking yet due to all the injuries I sustained." Kagome gave her the best smile she could and two walked slowly over to the rest of the cats. _Baby steps, Kagome. I don't need to look like a complete klutz._

* * *

Sesshomaru walked silently through the forest as his light steps didn't make a sound even against the leaves on the ground. His silver hair reflected bits of sunlight that made its way through the trees and made it sparkly in what some would call a heavenly way. His amber eyes were focused intently straight ahead of him. He had a purpose and nothing was going to deter him from it for he needed information from one that he could count on. Unfortunately and fortunately, the person he needed lived within the forests on his grounds. At least for a little while he could escape the trappings of having to deal with preparing for the meeting that had been called.

So far each Lord had agreed to show up and each Lady, where one applied, was bringing a minimum of thirty demons as an escort. Preparing his grounds on such a short notice for so many people had Jaken in a constant state of panic, especially if a mishap should happen that needed to be reported to Sesshomaru. He recalled the last incident where during the cleaning of the ceiling, the servant lost their footing and as they fell happened to tear the curtain that hid the entryway to the kitchens down. The Kappa had turned a pale green when he had told the lowly demon to simply replace it in time or there would certainly be consequences. _Though it did need to be replaced as it was starting to look rather old; besides, it helps appearances to have so many new things, even if it is a waste of time and expenses._

After quite a long walk within a very deep forest on the outskirts of his lands Sesshomaru finally arrived at his destination. "It has been quite some time since you last cared to visit, Lord Sesshomaru. I assume the reason you are here has something to do with a spell cast recently?"

Sesshomaru quietly regarded the tree, and true to form, got straight to the matter for which he was there for. "Indeed. Inuyasha's," he thought for a second to say wench, but the ancient tree demanded more respect in language than that, "human woman ran into this Sesshomaru and transformed."

Bokusenou laughed and its branches danced around him. "By ran into I take it you mean you attacked the poor girl?" At Sesshomaru's intent stare he continued. "Yes, I know something about the spell that was cast. It takes more than one to cast such a powerful and ancient spell. Her energy imprinted itself with yours and transformed itself accordingly. It was a way in the old days for evil humans with some power to become lesser demons."

"She did not merely turn to a lesser demon," Sesshomaru stated.

The ancient tree laughed at Sesshomaru's remark for he still seemed so young to the tree. _So very young. _"You, like Inuyasha, have the blood of your father within. How could she have turned into anything less than what she has?"

Sesshomaru considered the tree's advice and decided he indeed liked the compliment to his family line. "Is there any worry about her inability to control the blood as Inuyasha has?"

Bokusenou closes his eyes and for sever moments seemed to be in deep thought. "There may be some trouble in controlling her essence; however, she will not have the same problem as Inuyasha. She will merely have trouble restraining the new powers."

Sesshomaru nodded. _So the girl will be causing problems after all if she managed to live. _He now wished he had just killed the stupid wench and gotten his problems over with. Now he had guests he had to impress and an untrained demon girl on his lands that they would likely run into. That would most certainly tarnish his reputation for keeping those of his lands in line…especially if the girl was as smart mouthed to them as she had been to himself in the past.

Sesshomaru nodded to the tree and simply said, "I thank you for the information."

Bokusenou laughed, "Any time, Lord Sesshomaru. You know where to find me when you need me again."

Sesshomaru paused for a moment as he heard the telltale signs of Bokusenou expecting his need to visit again in the future. _That tree knows entirely too much for his own good._

Sesshomaru departed and returned with haste to his formal grounds. Many of the servants, he noticed, sped their pace with his arrival and admittedly a bit of vanity coursed through him at the sight of their fear. _Good, they should fear me._

"Lord Sesshomaru! Thank goodness you are here!" Jaken screamed during his run out of the main entryway. Upon tripping over one of the workers who was busy walking across the lane he muttered, "Get out of my way you filthy servant!"

Winded, Jaken stopped in front of his Lord Sesshomaru and gasped several times for air. "My Lord, the Lords and Ladies *pant* are appearing a little *pant* earlier than intended due to the *pant* death of the Southern Lord. They will be arriving tomorrow!" Jaken bowed to the ground in hopes that his lord would not kill him for the delivery of the bad news.

"Hn." His simple statement sent a trickle of fear down the kappa's spine. His look implied simply 'get it done or I will kill you and anyone that failed their task'.

Jaken scurried off and yelled at several of the people to have everything ready by the morning light. Many of the servants began running and rushing whatever it was they were doing. _At least it will be over with sooner and the new lord will have precious little time to prepare himself for the questions that are surely to come. _Sesshomaru stared at his claws and could think of nothing he'd like to do more at that moment then have the blood of the new Southern Lord dripping from them. With that lovely thought, he strode with all the grandeur of his station into the main building and headed towards his office. Two demon guards bowed and opened the door for him and closed it once he entered. Resigned to his fate of not getting his wish instantly, he sat down at his desk and continued to work through the paperwork.

* * *

Inuyasha growled once again that day as he looked back at the group saw Kikyo just a few feet behind him. They were getting nowhere fast and it was all that blasted woman's fault! _It's not like it was uncalled for. Kagome rode on my back all the time; but will she do it? NO! First they gang up on me to let her join and then she makes us take our sweet time in scouting. _

Kikyo sent a cold glare back at Inuyasha. She didn't care how many dirty looks or scowls he sent her way…there was no way she was going to demean herself enough to ride on his back like the other girl did. She had standards and appearances to maintain. _Of course he would not understand, he is as brash and uncaring as ever._ She recalled their fight earlier that morning.

"Dammit woman you're slow and you're slowing us down! Just get on my back and I can run!" Inuyasha screamed as the others watched with breakfast in their laps.

Shippo leaned in next to Sango and Miroku, "Who do you think is going to win?"

Miroku and Sango chimed in at the same time, "Kikyo."

Kilala mewed her response which was yet again a Kikyo as the victor.

"I am not degrading myself to ride on your back. Kagome may have found that appropriate but I do not," Kikyo stated in a matter of fact tone. She would not be pushed around by a silly half demon that wanted her to do something so outrageous. Surely he knew being seen like that, as a priestess, was bad form.

"Kagome did it all the time and no one said anything about it to her," Inuyasha tried to persuade her.

Shippo shook his head and took a bite out of the rice ball on his plate. "Bad move Inuyasha."

Inuyasha glared at the poor little fox demon, "Shut it you little brat!" He smirked as Shippo hid behind Sango since he no longer had the protection of Kagome to stop him from beating him on the head.

Kikyo glared at the half demon and her priestess energies swirled around her in a very faint blue glow around her. "Inuyasha, do not compare me to my reincarnation. As you should have learned by now, she and I are nothing alike."

"Keh," Inuyasha responded. "Look, we need to get places quickly so that we can find Naraku. If you ride on my back it will give us a faster way to search for him…meaning more likely to find him!" He was pacing now and quite clearly agitated.

"We will find Naraku in due time. If we rush we are more than likely going to miss something and prolong our journey to find him," Kikyo countered.

Inuyasha growled once again and wondered why he was putting himself through this. "The faster we find Naraku the better…and we've never had any problems finding him in some form or another traveling the way we always do!" He wished so much that Kagome would come back sooner rather than later.

"We will simply have to make do with the slower traveling," she told him once again. "I refuse to be seen in such a state as it is highly unbecoming for one of my profession. Until the jewel is complete and I am no longer bound as the priestess who guards the jewel, I cannot act as any normal woman Inuyasha. As I said long ago, while I am a priestess of the jewel I will never have a normal life."

Inuyasha's ears flattened as he recalled a certain promise he had made to her. Soon, his temper flared as he recalled the reason he was not able to keep the promise he had made to her over fifty years ago. "I'm sorry it didn't happen for you Kikyo…but if you recall, you happened to shoot me with an arrow and because of that I wasn't able to do anything."

Kikyo's energy sizzled around her, sparking in the air like static. "I know well my past mistakes Inuyasha. I apologize for them and no longer need them thrown at me." Her eyes went as cold as Sesshomaru's at that point. She did not care for the constant reminder of how much had happened because of misplaced trust and lack of it in certain areas. "Now, you can either forgive it Inuyasha or we can continue our travels as we have so far."

Inuyasha sighed and was about to speak from his heart but then noticed that he was still in front of the group. "Keh, whatever woman. Have it your way but we're walking twice as long to make up for lost time."

With that, he had huffed and moved to the front of the group. Nagging them at times to move faster and denying certain periods of rest that Kagome would normally sit him for. Sango missed Kagome dearly and noticed that the group had changed quite a bit in the short amount of time she had been gone. First of all, Inuyasha's temper was even worse now than it had ever been. _It's probably just due to the constant reminder of past mistakes. Hopefully he gets over it soon enough. _

Then, there was the monk who had probably changed the most out of all of them. He had not groped a single person since this journey without Kagome started. Whether it was due to his thoughts troubling him or if it was just the newness of Kikyo's presence she was not sure. Granted it was probably going to be a very short lived break but she would enjoy it while she could. _I wonder whether or not he will ever learn any amount of restraint. Though I do wish he was up to his normal, upbeat self. It might have been annoying but at least it was comforting._

Though Shippo's behavior had not changed too terribly much she could tell Kagome's absence was affecting him the most. He still bothered Inuyasha quite a bit though was more careful of it now since there was no sit command waiting in the background. He would curl up in the position Kagome usually took close to the fire or next to Kilala when he was feeling particularly lonely. She was just glad he didn't succumb to depression over this, though it helped that they were all there to tell him Kagome would one day return and everything would continue as normal.

Kikyo was a difficult person to assess as she still was not quite forthcoming with the group. She remained silent during their walking and rarely went with Sango to bathe. The times the two did spend together were so far awkward, mostly due the fact that neither knew what to say to the other. Sure, they had Naraku in common and being betrayed by him; however, that wasn't exactly the conversation starter she wanted. _Well, someone has to break the ice. I might as well be the one._

She hurried her pace a bit so that she was walking beside Kikyo, who simply looked over at her with curiosity. "Hello. I was just wondering how you are doing? I know it can't be easy traveling with us since Inuyasha is as Kagome puts it, a 'slave driver'."

"Keh, if that woman weren't such a pathetic human maybe she could keep up," he said as he looked pointedly at Kikyo, as if the statement were to refer to her as well.

"I am fine, Sango. Thank you for inquiring," she nodded at the demon slayer at her side. She was the only one she really felt like she could talk to at the moment. Everyone was still so new but at least she had something in common with Sango. She was too cautious to get near the monk at the moment given what had happened the first day she had agreed to travel with the small group. "As for you, Inuyasha, you would do well to remember that this woman is hardly pathetic."

"Whatever," he stated. He watched as the sky started to get dark and mentally cursed the fact that they would have to stop. _Pathetic humans with their pathetic eyesight._ "We'll stop here for the night. I suggest you get some sleep." With that, he took off into the trees of the surrounding forest so that he could keep an eye on everything that was happening; also, he had to get away from Kikyo. She was going to be worse than Kagome ever was.

Sango sighed as she settled down for the night. The two had been fighting all day but at least they hadn't threatened death yet. _It would seem this is going to take baby steps._

* * *

Naraku watched the surface of the mirror as the ghostly Kanna held it in her child-like arms before him. He watched as his old love, Kikyo, had joined with Inuyasha in search for the jewel shards that he now mostly possessed. Thanks to Kagome's untimely demise and Inuyasha's stupidity, he now had the shards that the girl once possessed. He held up the glass vial that had once contained the purified shards of the jewel and watched as they turned black as he put them in the palm of his hand.

He laughed at the thought. They had been so distracted that they still had not realized the mistake. _Honestly, who could forget about the shards of the sacred jewel at a time such as this? _With that thought in mind, he added the tainted shards to the rest of the jewel. It was very nearly complete. There were still two left to the wolf Kouga and one still within the young slayer Kohaku. If he had to guess, there were at least two more scattered somewhere. Kagura would be there soon with the latest news on that front.

"Kanna, show me Kagura," he instructed, his deep voice sending chills throughout the room.

If Kanna had been anyone else, she would have succumbed to the maliciousness of the voice, but she had been created with little to no emotion within her. "Yes Master," was all she said as the image in the mirror reflected a different scene. This one was of Kagura, who was currently on her feather and heading straight towards their new hideout. She would arrive in a few moments.

"I wonder what she has found," he inquired aloud. "Onto more pressing matters though," he spoke to the group that had now entered the room at his bidding. "How are the plans going in the south?"

Shiru looked at the demon Naraku and smiled. "Things are going just as planned. We have dispatched the Lord of the South and his son as succeeded in taking over already. Inuyasha's group is already on the move and Talona is keeping a close eye on their movements. The only hitch in the plan she has reported is the dead priestess, Kikyo, seems to be human now and is indeed travelling with them. The Southern Lord is amassing his armies, secretly of course, so that the attacks can begin soon. We should be able to cover quite a bit of ground before Sesshomaru and his allies have a chance to react."

Naraku smiled, obviously pleased with the news. "Kikyo is human again? That should make it all the more easy to bend her to my will." After all the years of planning and coercing their movements, things were finally starting to pay off. His movements had been slowly building towards this one outcome. The other lands would fall and he would be on top. He almost had everything that was needed.

He didn't even look over at Kagura as she entered the room. He simply looked out the window and looked at his miasma covered lands. "I hope you have good news Kagura."

Kagura gave a semi-glare to the man who controlled her heart. "Indeed, there are two other shards of the sacred jewel. One is in the eastern mountains and should be easy enough to retrieve. The other will be slightly harder as they are in the western lands. Odds are, Inuyasha's group will be able to get at least one of the shards. I might suggest stalling them with your new thugs," she said as she glanced at the group of demons Naraku had hired on to do his dirty work.

"An excellent suggestion. See to it that Inuyasha is kept away from the shards," and with that, he dismissed them all. He would wait for the right moment to make his move. For now, he would wear them out and perhaps get the rest of the jewel shards while he was at it. This was turning out to be a wonderful day.


	9. Royal Welcome

**(A/N) **Time for yet another chapter! Also, thank you to all my loyal readers and everyone that has reviewed. It really means a lot as a writer to know so many people like the story so far! Now, on to the exciting chapter!

**Ch.8 Royal Welcome**

To say she was nervous was a complete understatement of her current emotional state. She bit down on her bottom lip as she looked at the castle before her. _Or is it a fortress? _She could never recall the correct names for the architecture. She took small steps towards their destination and wondered if he would be there to greet them at the gates. From what she could tell, the castle had a thick wall around it and sat atop a small plateau. The outer walls looked to be made from a very thick stone and had guards standing atop it every hundred feet or so. The gates were large and wooden, probably very heavy, not that a demon would have any problem opening them quickly enough.

Kagome took a deep breath and remembered when this had all started in the morning. A messenger had arrived at their small encampment that morning, worn out for they had been the last to get the message. They were to arrive by late afternoon at the latest as there was distressing news about how some Lord had passed away. With that, the Lady ordered one of the cats to hurry and dress Kagome in proper attire once again. As she put it 'there was no need for the present to look frumpy'. Kagome had inwardly seethed about that for almost an hour. The long walk at a quickened pace quickly took over the anger department some hours later.

So there she stood with all the other demons that were all looking prim and proper. The lady maids were all giggling about something, though she guessed it was about how good looking Sesshomaru was for a lowly dog. Kagome smirked as she wondered if they would ever dare say things like that while he was within earshot. _Probably not. If they did they would have been dead a long time ago._ She looked up as the doors creaked open and they were told to enter. She tried to look towards the front but what little glimpses she could catch only told her that the great demon lord was not there to greet them. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, which was quickly mistaken for something else by the girl traveling next to her.

Hanako placed her small, clawed hand on Kagome's shoulder and whispered lightly, "Do not worry, Lady Kagome. It is proper that we are allowed entrance and get ready for the proper greeting tonight at dinner. You will see your Lord then." She nodded encouragingly.

Kagome groaned inwardly. _At least I will have a few hours of rest before I die. _

Unfortunately for Kagome, those hours were full of losing yet more layers of skin and being placed in at least five different under layers of kimono. Her hair was being pulled and stretched, her scalp clawed as they 'arranged' her hair. Powder was thrown onto her face and though they did not put much on her, it was enough to make her sneeze. _Gods I hate this!_

* * *

Sesshomaru sat alone in his office with only a small stack of papers left. He had stayed all night to make sure everything that needed to be done was finished before his 'guests' started to arrive. As he was alone in the room, he pinched the bridge of his nose to help ease the headache that was starting to form. He could smell the arrival of all the other lords and ladies and over a hundred different demons that were there to wait on them hand and foot. It bothered his nose to no end and the resulting headache made the last bit of paperwork like a mountain. Almost letting out a sigh, he continued on with his work which took another thirty minutes of his time.

With that done, he looked at the setting of the sun and knew that he had to prepare for the dinner as being late was not an option he had. As such, he walked out the door and the guard on the other side shut it behind him as he walked further down the hallway. Once he reached his chambers he noticed a suitable replacement for his attire was found. Basically it was just a clean version of what he was already wearing. The only real difference was the fabric that was used. Since this was a formal occasion, a softer and less hardy fabric was used.

He walked past the outfit and went to his private hot springs and washed quickly and thoroughly. As he did so, servants came in and took the old clothes to be well taken care of and cleaned with the most meticulous care. He of course would have nothing less than the best. After a good soak and a bit of procrastination on his part he went to his rooms and dressed. A servant entered his room and spoke quickly and softly, "My Lord, it is almost time for the dinner to begin."

He nodded and watched the servant girl scurry out of his room quickly to get away from the coldness of his gaze. Well dressed and of course well groomed Sesshomaru, Lord of the West, walked out of his chambers and walked towards the dining halls. He wondered just how tedious all of this was going to be. He didn't have much time to think about it as the guests were already forming a line in which to be greeted. _And so the charade begins._

* * *

Kagome had been rudely ushered into the line of many demons waiting to be greeted to the Lord Sesshomaru. She sighed inwardly as her death became more imminent with each passing second that she stood there. Looking around, she noticed that there were quite a few people in the line ahead of her. First, the Lord and Lady of the Northern kingdoms went. From what she heard, they were allies in long standing with Sesshomaru's family and as such had the honor of being the first in line. She also noticed that they carried with them a goblet of silver which was imbedded with rubies and diamonds. Intricate metalwork looped its way intricately around each gem. They offered it to Sesshomaru who accepted it in words as a servant carried the gift away to some unknown location. _So, giving a gift is customary. I wonder what they had intended on giving Sesshomaru in the first place._

The next in line was the newly appointed Lord of the Southern kingdoms. The demon Lord Ichiro looked haughtily at the Lord Sesshomaru as he gave a small bow that was required as a guest of the West. "Greetings, Lord Sesshomaru, I present this gift to you on behalf of the Southern kingdoms," he said charismatically as his servant lifted a pillow that had a single jewel shard. He smirked inwardly as his plans were slowly coming along. _This is all too easy. _

She watched as Sesshomaru stared down at the shard of the jewel that he felt was completely useless. It offered borrowed power that corrupted whatever used it. _Is he trying to imply that I, Lord Sesshomaru, am weak and in need of a shard of the jewel? Hn. _Out of politeness, he waved for a servant to take the shard of the jewel to where his other gifts were being placed. He knew it would be safe at least for now. No one was stupid enough to try and steal something from him especially while he was there.

Kagome started to shake nervously as she noticed it was the Eastern lady's turn to be greeted by the demon lord. She was pushed forward by the male demon that had gotten her garments earlier in the travels and got an encouraging smile from Hanako. With a rather large intake of breath to calm herself down, Kagome took what she thought were the last steps she'd ever take in her life.

"Greetings Lady Koneko," Sesshomaru said with a slight nod of his head. He was wary about the cat demon for she had a rather smug look upon her face. Something had already thrown him off when her group had moved forward for him to greet them. There was something in the air that just didn't sit right with him.

"Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Kingdoms," she nearly purred at him, "I present you with a gift." She motioned for Hanako to bring the demon child forward. Oh how she loved this moment. "I return one that belongs to you safely and in good health." With a small bow, she walked forward towards the dining hall, her inner thoughts congratulating herself on a ploy well played.

Sesshomaru stared at the girl before him and sighed mentally. This was quite the low blow to his reputation as they would now assume that he could not take care of one of his own. _They actually believed her to be part of my court?_ That is the only assumption he could make as he now looked down at the very frightened girl before him. Sure, she didn't look scared. She gave him a stare that reminded him very much of Rin; however, the smell of her fear was getting very overwhelming. Still, he could not be outdone by a cat. "Jaken, have this girl removed and brought back with attire befitting one of Sesshomaru's court." He inwardly smirked as he heard a small hiss in the background.

Kagome was too stunned at first to say or do anything but just stand there. She was shocked that she was still alive, breathing and standing there. It wasn't until Jaken started to push at her legs that she finally realized that Sesshomaru, at least for now, was sparing her life. Kagome smiled a bit at one of the first times Sesshomaru had done something kind for her. So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment and bowed to Lord Sesshomaru. "Thank you Lord Sesshomaru." Her only response before walking away with Jaken was a slight nod of his head.

Jaken pushed the girl away until she was able to finally focus her attentions on where she was going. He ran in front of her and led the way to the new room she would be staying in. He waved a few of the servant girls that were awaiting orders. "Take this girl and get her proper attire for a Lady of Sesshomaru's court." With a small glance at the new girl, he made a small humph noise and said, "Have her ready in ten minutes. Lord Sesshomaru does not like to wait."

Kagome groaned as she watched the ladies swarm around her and busy themselves with undoing everything that had been done. Though she was relieved at the lightness that was offered once all the layers were removed it was a short lived victory. She glanced over and noticed there were not five layers to the next outfit that was going to wear. Instead, there were seven layers and that didn't include the outer layer. The inner most layer was a very, very dark red and each layer was a shade lighter than the rest until the last layer was a blood red. The other kimono reminded her of what Sesshomaru always wore. It was a very pristine white with a pattern of red along the sleeves and the neckline. Around her waist they tied a bright yellow obi with the same purple pattern that Sesshomaru's sash held. If she didn't know better, she'd say they gave her the female version of his outfit…minus the armor of course.

The next to be done was her hair which they took half and put it up in a partial bun and let the rest fall down her back. They then put a small comb of ruby and diamond flowers for the decoration. Kagome had time to look in the mirror and decided that she did indeed look better than before though she would rather not have the weight to go with it. She had hardly recovered before they decided to put her through this torture. With a sigh, she thanked the girls and was then escorted by Jaken back to the dining hall. Never had she been as nervous as when she entered and all eyes were on her, the gold ones made her especially nervous. _Okay people, move on and stare at someone else._

Hanako made her way through the people and walked at her side. "You look lovely in your Lord's colors," she stated. She herself was dressed in light silver with black swirls.

"Thank you Hanako," she replied rather nervously. The chatter in the background had finally continued as if the cat demon walking beside her had broken a sort of spell. It was then that she realized that Hanako was slowly leading her to Lord Sesshomaru. "Hey look, maybe we should go get something to drink?" She was hoping beyond hope that the girl would just back down and let her go get a drink and that then she could hide in some corner until all of this was over.

"I suppose you should have a drink, though I will go get it for you. I am sure you wish to be reacquainted with your Lord," she gave a small, innocent wink and took off to the other side of the room before Kagome could even object. She stood there for a few moments not knowing what to do when she heard a small 'Hn' that made her heart stop…and not for good reasons. When she looked over he was right there beside her. His scent was the first thing that invaded her senses. It was very earthy and quite pleasant in a world where scents were now annoying the heck out of her. Next was his outfit which seemed quite the same as usual although the lack of weaponry and armor made it seem a bit off to her. Her eyes went up to his face and noticed that he too was studying her with those cold, calculating eyes. Up close like this she could see just how amber those eyes were. If she didn't know any better she would have thought they held some warmth in them just from the pure brightness of them.

Sesshomaru watched her study him though he was surprised it was in no way like the other females studied him. No, he could not smell any attraction in her scent right now, just worried and curious. Being the kind of demon he was, he could not help but to try and throw her off. She was indeed why he was being caused so much trouble at the moment. So the great demon Lord leaned in close so that his mouth was next to her ear. He heard the sharp intake of breath that his actions caused and inwardly smirked. Then he asked the question he knew would ruffle her feathers, "Do you like what you see?"

Kagome was so taken aback by his words that all she could do was stand there with her mouth partially hanging open. _Sesshomaru could NOT have just said that to me. Could he? No, there's just no way. _With everything that had happened to her she was at least glad for some kind of words other than 'are you ready to die'. So, snapping out of it, she lifted her chin and whispered back into his ear, "No, merely looking over all your flaws. There are so many that it took me a while of gaping to count them all." She smirked a little as he backed up and his cold eyes held a flash of anger.

Sesshomaru looked down at the new demoness before him. She had spunk that was for sure as no other lady would dare speak to him as such; however, he gladly accepted the change of pace due to the extreme amounts of boredom that plagued him during events such as these. He made a mental note to keep her near him during the dinner just to watch the reactions of all the other females in the area. Oh, he could feel the glares headed in her direction. "Hn, though you find this one's flaws attractive…the blush on your face tells me this."

Kagome turned a few shades of red at his words. _Could someone really be this full of themselves?_ One glance at his eyes told her that he was being completely serious. She knew she couldn't win this fight as his words were pretty true. Sesshomaru was an attractive man even if he was a demon so there was no use arguing that he wasn't. The real question was why was he still there standing that close to her? "Lord Sesshomaru, what do you want?" she asked as she took a step back to put more space between them.

He straightened up and offered her an arm. Sesshomaru may not like the girl in the slightest; but, for now, the people thought she was part of his court and he had no choice but to treat her as such. Unfortunately for her, dog demons had a tendency for being more intimate than the other races. When she took his arm he led her over towards the long dining table where some of the other demon Lords and Ladies had already begun to gather around. As they walked, he said in a low rumble that only she, a dog demon, would be able to understand. 'I am bored and you are here to amuse me.'

Kagome felt the goose bumps raise the flesh on her arms. Never had she been spoken to like that, like a dog would talk. It was rather strange and…primal. She did however understand the full meaning of what he was trying to convey to her. Kagome was merely the tool he would more than likely use to make the situation interesting. She leaned in to him as they walked by an empty gap at the table, "So you're going to throw me to the wolves are you?"

He could see the anger in her eyes and knew she did not like the idea of being used. His response was quick, "Among other things, yes." She was about to say something else, probably yell at him in front of everyone, but he opened his mouth first as they had reached their destination. Sesshomaru wanted to spice things up and he knew exactly how to do it…the females were going to be in an uproar later as their egos were torn asunder. "Lady Kagome, you will sit here," and he had a servant pull out the chair that was to his left.

Kagome heard a few intakes of breath as the small demon, Jaken, pulled the chair out for her to sit down in. She didn't understand why there were so many curious looks from the people around her and quite a few heated glares from the females farther down the table. Still, she did not want the attention to stay on her too much longer so she sat down in the hopes that she would soon be forgotten. As soon as the chair was scooted in she could hear the buzz of conversation continuing around her and the content itself was mostly about her. Who was the demoness Kagome? Why had Lord Sesshomaru kept her hidden until now? Why was she a better choice than whatever female that happened to ask the question? It wasn't until a demon Lord spoke up that she could finally ignore the buzzing around her. "My Lady, I have not had the pleasure of meeting you before. I am Lord Shoichi," he said with a slight nod of his head.

Kagome studied him for a few moments. He had long, light blue hair that went past the table so she couldn't tell how long it actually was and his eyes were the same light blue as his hair. She could tell he was fairly tall, maybe even more so than Sesshomaru. _That's quite a feat. _He had soft features like Sesshomaru except his weren't marred by coldness and contempt. No, he actually seemed to be genuinely friendly and she couldn't help but open up to him immediately. "Lady Kagome, a pleasure to meet you Lord Shoichi." She bowed as much as she could at the table and watched his smile brighten.

"This is the Lady Natsumi," he said pleasantly, indicating the woman sitting at his side. She too had long hair though it was a dull yellow in color. Her eyes were a light blue and seemed to be shining with happiness as well. Kagome wondered how people such as they could ever get along with the Lord of the Western lands long enough to have formed any kind of alliance. She was smaller than Shoichi by at least a foot and she just seemed dainty all around. She noticed their outfits were white and yellow, a very hypnotizing mix.

"A pleasant surprise you are, Lady Kagome," Natsumi said as she watched the girls around her seethe in anger. _Oh how it must burn them to hear she has the favor of the Northern Lord and Lady as well. _"Though, why have you been such a secret until now?" She couldn't help the curiosity since it happened to involve, well…any female and Lord Sesshomaru. The man was so cold and distant that he never had anyone around at all.

"Oh, well," she looked over at Sesshomaru and noticed he was conversing with the Southern Lord and would not be able to help her. "You see, Lord Sesshomaru thought it would be best if I spent some time travelling and getting to know the lands a little better. Unfortunately, I was attacked along the way and left all alone…until the Lady of the East came and with…compassion…decided to have me healed and returned." There, that sounded like a suitable enough half-truth.

Natsumi patted her hand lightly, "That must have been most troublesome for you to be away from your Lord for that long. After all, my understanding is that most of those that are canine in nature are very protective of those within their pack."

Kagome wished the woman would talk about other things than Sesshomaru. Lieing this much to people was surely causing her good karma to drop drastically. "It was rough, admittedly," she whispered as her face turned a shade red at such a lie.

Natsumi watched the blush form on the young lady's face and instantly an idea formed in her head. Of course with Sesshomaru being the kind of demon he was, of course the girl would be more than nervous to admit any kind of feelings for him. She felt sorry for the girl and instantly wanted to help her out. That and Lord Sesshomaru and his cold demeanor were, quite frankly, bothersome to deal with and grated on her chi. "Lord Sesshomaru," she inquired as some quiet had come to his end of the table, "I do believe that the time has come for you to begin the first dance? Perhaps you and your Lady can show everyone how it is done?"

Sesshomaru semi-glared at the Lord Ichiro as he sat down to his right at the table. Of course, many wondered why a newly appointed lord would get such attention as to be sitting in such a position of honor but Sesshomaru knew most of them would figure it out rather quickly, for demons knew the motto of keeping your enemies closer more than most. "Lord Ichiro, I trust your timely secession has gone smoothly?"

Oh, Ichiro knew well enough the barb that Sesshomaru had sent his way. He also knew that Sesshomaru was a very smart opponent and had probably figured out that somehow he and Naraku were connected. "Indeed, quite smoothly as a matter of fact," he said with a rather bland tone for he would not give Sesshomaru the satisfaction of ruffling his scales. "As I see your Lady in court has made a rather…shocking appearance. Tell me, why the secret?"

Sesshomaru stared at him with a bored look. "She had other duties to see to that are none of your concern." His tone said to all 'question my answer and I shall see your most painful death'. He knew Ichiro had some connection to Naraku. The evidence was far too telling though he wondered why he would not have at least tried to hide it more so than he had. He would have to be very careful for if the two were plotting together there was no telling where the deception started. "Curious, is it not, that your father was attacked so closely to her brush with death?"

Ichiro scoffed at that. Surely Naraku would have told him if his plans had involved attacking someone that close to Sesshomaru. "You think the two incidents are related then?" He had to be very careful with is words right now or he might anger the higher ranking lord.

"Hn," was all could say as the two stared each other down for a good couple of minutes. It was only the Lady Natsumi's voice that broke his attention as he heard her bring up the traditional first dance. Of course he had never been one to actually dance as he had always used the excuse that he had no one he would even consider dancing with. _I pray the girl knows how to dance or she will embarrass us all. _With one last glance at Ichiro he merely said, "This conversation will continue later."

With great reluctance, Sesshomaru stood up and glanced to the woman at his left that was currently giving him the look of a scared doe. He offered her his hand and he noticed the slight hesitance she had before putting her hand in his. Admittedly, her touch was not as offending as he thought it would be though it was probably due to the fact that she was now a demon instead of a human.

Kagome had watched as he offered his hand to her so that he could take her to the dance floor. She drew in a small breath before taking his hand and prayed that the dance was one covered in the dance class she once had in school. If not, the two were going to be screwed. As he got them into a dancing position in the middle of the floor, Kagome sighed with relief. She knew this dance well enough to be able to at least not mess it up completely. He didn't even speak to her as they danced, as if he was too focused on leading her and making sure she did not make many mistakes. As her confidence grew she was lighter to handle and she noticed that their movements were more fluid now than in the beginning.

He chanced a glance in her direction and noticed that she had let herself finally get into the dance. _So, the girl at least has some sort of formal education._ He wondered what he would do with the coming situation as far as she was concerned. There would be many more questions during the night and he had hoped to avoid them, but the look in Natsumi's eyes told him he had every right to worry about what her plans may be. _She could not possibly be trying to play matchmaker? _The last girl she had sent his way left in tears. As the dance ended, he whispered to Kagome, "Come."

As he walked away from her, Kagome instantly followed. She did not want to be alone with all the demons that surrounded her. She may now be one but that didn't mean she felt like she belonged here, especially with all the formalness of the situation. She also noticed that the Southern Lord Ichiro was staring at her and she wasn't sure she liked what she saw. With a sigh, she could only hope this night would end far more quickly than it had so far.


	10. Trusting

**(A/N) **Well, there is a bit of good news. I am at the point of writing where I am finally catching up on my chapters! So that means I get to hold chapters hostage while people read! That's right, HOSTAGE! Here's a chapter that has been released!

**Ch.9 Trusting**

Kagome had followed Sesshomaru out of the dining hall with him only saying to people that 'the lady requires her rest after such an attack on her life'. Of course everyone thought the world of Sesshomaru and how he was so thoughtful and good to the poor, weak lady. She rolled her eyes at the thought. They also did not know what to make of it given that this was so unlike the Sesshomaru everyone knew. So she followed him and hoped that it wasn't somewhere quiet to kill her. Though, secretly, she was just glad to get away from the Ichiro guy that seemed to stare at her as if either planning something or mentally undressing her. _It was probably both._

"You are to stay in this room for the duration of the gathering," Sesshomaru said as he opened the door himself and motioned for her to enter.

Kagome stuck her nose in the air as she passed through the entryway and was about to turn around and give him a piece of her mind when a loud voice rang out behind her. "Lord Sesshomaru!" A small whirlwind of a girl ran past her and hugged onto Sesshomaru's legs. "Lord Sesshomaru are you here to stay? Rin was so bored and lonely with no one to stay here and not even Master Jaken was here to play with Rin."

Kagome held back a laugh as the girl spoke so fast that it was almost hard to keep up. She had met the girl a few times before but there had never really been time to talk and she mostly stuck close to the demon lord. _I wonder what she sees in him that no one else does? _Kagome met Sesshomaru's stare and laughed at how he kept the cold stare. Only he would be able to pull it off with such a charming little girl attached to his legs.

"Lady Kagome is here to keep you company," he stated with no room for argument. Not that Rin would ever argue with him but the woman he was not so sure of. He had seen many a time where she was blatantly rude and standoffish.

Of course the news caused a gasp from the small girl. "Is this really Kagome?" she asked Sesshomaru. He gave a small nod of his head and the girl immediately turned her hug onto Kagome. "Oh Rin is so happy to see you again Kagome! Now Rin has someone to play with while all the guests are here!" She was so ecstatic as she ran around the room pulling Kagome along so that she could see where everything was.

After a few minutes, Kagome stopped the little girl and turned towards Sesshomaru. "May I speak to you in the hallway for just a moment?" She walked into the hallway and waited for Sesshomaru to follow her. "I was wondering if I could have a few supplies such as paper and things to write with. I'm not sure how long this…thing of yours is going to last so I was going to see about teaching Rin a few things. If that's all right with you of course?" She had spoken so fast that she wondered if perhaps she'd have to repeat herself.

Sesshomaru paused for a moment, unsure of how he should respond to such a request. "What will you teach Rin?" He had to be sure that she at least knew something worthy of being taught to the girl. Of course, he still seriously doubted the education level of the human woman that had traveled with his half-wit of a half-brother.

"Well, if you would allow me I can teach her to write and to read. Though reading will require some books or scrolls that would be suitable to a child of her age," she looked at the demon and imagined him picking some story about how his father had killed hundreds of humans and with lots of gory pictures. "Or, you could just give me quite a bit of paper and I could write the story myself. I think that might work out a little better."

"Hn," was all he said at first. He still had issues believing that the human girl had been educated at all. From his understanding she was not even considered moderately wealthy among the villagers and as such should not even be exposed to things such as writing or reading. Still, it could not hurt to have her entertain the girl for the few days that they would be there. He glanced over at a nearby servant, "See to it she has what she needs." The servant nodded quickly and he started to walk off down the hallway, leaving a very grateful but still confused Kagome.

"Thank you um, Lord Sesshomaru," Kagome smiled slightly, interrupting him before he had the chance to fully start leaving. She still was not sure if she was going to die any time soon but there seemed to be a bit of hope now that she was with Rin. _Surely he wouldn't kill me when he's already brought me to the little girl? _Still, wishing to show some respect to him for getting her out of the dining hall, she bowed so that he would understand just how grateful she was.

Kagome and Rin watched as Sesshomaru simply turned on his heel and marched back down the hallway that would eventually take him back to the other demons. Silently she thanked him yet again for getting her out of that mess even if it was just for a little while. "Rin, tell me, do you really believe that I am Kagome?" she asked as she closed the door to the outside word and settled in a nearby chair.

Rin walked over to her and smiled brightly before saying, "Lord Sesshomaru said that you were Kagome so that means that you must be Kagome!" She looked over at the changed Kagome and smiled. "Lord Sesshomaru is never wrong." She skipped around the room and sat in a chair next to Kagome's and looked at her with quite a bit of excitement. "Are you really going to teach Rin who to read and write?"

Kagome watched as the girl was practically bouncing in the chair due to excitement. "Yes Rin, I will be teaching you," she informed the girl. She watched as Rin whooped in excitement and asked her a million questions about what she was going to read and how she was going to learn to write and what she was going to write with. All the while a thought kept nagging at the back of Kagome's mind. _How does this girl trust Sesshomaru so much that whatever he says is automatically true? Rin is such a trusting little girl. _She smiled at the thought and the two got to work as the papers and writing utensils arrived at the door.

* * *

"Shut it Shippo!" Inuyasha yelled at the snickering fox demon that was currently taking residence on Sango's shoulder. He was not a very happy half demon at the moment and Shippo was only making the situation worse.

Inuyasha recalled the morning's incident with much dismay, embarrassment, and of course anger at the one causing most of his problems lately, Kikyo. He had just been so tired about everything taking such a long time. Take the travel between villages. With Kagome he could have easily spent just a week between villages depending on the distance of course. With Kikyo, he was lucky if they made it in two weeks and it was getting on his nerves.

So, he had done what he had to do in order to make things go faster. The group was currently finishing their breakfast and packing things up. Shippo was wiping down whatever dishes there were and putting them away, Sango was getting her weaponry read, and Miroku was getting dangerously close to getting smacks as his old routine was working its way back into the group dynamic. He noticed that Sango had mixed feelings about this development.

After half an hour of walking he was starting to get impatient as usual. It was not necessary to go this slow all the time. His mind made up, Inuyasha brought up the subject once again. "Kikyo, hop on my back, we'll get to the next village faster." He waited for her to hop on, hoping that with the time he had given that she would see the error of her ways.

Unfortunately for him, Kikyo was still just as stubborn as she had once been over fifty years ago. "Inuyasha, I gave you my answer already and that answer still remains no," she sighed having told him her answer repeatedly. He was seriously trying her patience and for someone like her that was no small feat.

"Look, just try it once and if you still find yourself being all high and mighty about it then I'll back off; but, we still need to hurry up! Naraku could be out there!" Inuyasha growled. Seriously, the slow pace was making him antsy and he didn't like it. When she glared at him in response he did the only thing he could do.

"Guys, catch up on Kilala," Inuyasha stated.

Kikyo did not like the gleam in his eyes that appeared as he stared at her intently. No, she knew she was not going to like whatever it was he had gotten into his head to do. "Inuyasha, whatever it is, do not even think it," she practically hissed at him.

Inuyasha ignored her remarks and did what he thought he should have done from day one. He picked Kikyo up and put her over his shoulder and made a run for it. His ears flattened at her shriek of shock and then a scream of rage. "Inuyasha put me down this instant!" Kikyo yelled as she tried to kick and hit her fists against his back.

Inuyasha smirked as he sped away at a more reasonable speed. _This is much better though I wish she'd quit kicking. _"Stop kicking and just settle in for the ride," he responded. Really it would be much easier on the both of them if she would only stop struggling. He needed her to see that this was an ideal mode of travel and nothing would be missed so that they could quit the horribly slow snail pace she had forced upon the group.

"Inuyasha I am warning you. Put me down or you will regret this," she tried to turn her head enough to glare at him. All she got was a nice jolt when she shifted her on his shoulder just enough to knock a bit of the wind out of her.

"Shut up will ya," he replied. Seriously, there was no reason she should be fighting this that much. It was then that his senses felt a tingling sensation all over his body. Inuyasha glanced over at Kikyo and noticed that her body had gone stiff and she had placed a hand awkwardly as far onto his chest as she could reach. His dog ears picked up a small 'I warned you' when he felt what she had meant by her words of warning.

Shippo, Miroku, Sango and Kilala had finally started to catch up when they are heard a loud yell that sent the birds in the surrounding trees scattering into the air. A few more seconds passed and they noticed that the air was still sizzling from the holy energies Kikyo must have released on the poor half demon. Kilala landed and Shippo was lucky for it for he had rolled off her head in fits of laughter. Not ten feet from them was a very sizzled looking Inuyasha laying on the ground, hand twitching from the shock of it all.

And so the half demon cringed as he got up to see a hysterically laughing Shippo who was pointing at him amidst his giggles, Sango who was trying to stifle her laughter but failing miserably, Miroku whose hand was slowing going towards Sango's rear as he too laughed, and a certain priestess smirking at her victory over him. The only neutral one in the group happened to be Kilala who was simply staring at everyone within the group and wondering if they were going to be going anywhere soon.

"You…stupid…wench!" Inuyasha yelled as he tried to catch his breath. Shaky hands moved to push himself up and soon he was standing albeit barely so. "What the hell…was that for?" Now he was just pissed off at Kikyo. _She attacked me! And they laugh at that!_ A small growl escaped his lips as he stared at the woman that was walking towards him.

"Inuyasha, you should never have forced the issue. As you did, you gave me no choice but to retaliate. If you do not want this to happen again, I suggest that you keep your paws to yourself," Kikyo beamed with pride at having subdued the half demon. Oh how she longed to do just that so many times before. Granted before she was not sure if she would have killed him but at least for now those kinds of thoughts had subsided. No, for now, embarrassing him was quite enough. _Teach him to take liberties with me._

Inuyasha growled once again and dusted off his haori. He let out a small 'Keh' and started walking once more ahead of the group. He couldn't kill the woman and he certainly could not hurt her either though he was seriously considering doing so. With a huff he turned to give the group one last look and saw the smirks on their faces as the laughter died down and they fell into step behind him. _Stupid woman…stupid fox brat. _Oh yes, Shippo was still mocking him in the background, he could feel it.

And so here they were later in the day still walking as they had earlier though the smirks had fallen off their faces as he was sure their face muscles were too tired to keep it up. Of course he was still angry at Kikyo and she looked as smug as ever having won another battle. She had always loved to be on the winning end of things. It was then that a smell hit his half demon nose and he stopped walking so that he could concentrate on it. _A demon and they aren't too far from here. _Without Kagome though, he couldn't really tell if it just happened to be nearby, or if it was coming for them.

"Do you smell a demon Inuyasha?" she asked. Usually the only way he took the time out of their busy walking schedule was if a demon happened to be close by. Out of concern, she put Shippo on the now transformed Kilala. _That confirms it, she would only transform if there was a demon nearby._

Shippo did a small pout and huffed as he was placed on Kilala's head. "I don't see why I have to stay with Kilala if there's just some demon out there. Not like I haven't been in a battle before," he muttered to no one in particular.

With a hiss, Kilala looked up towards the forest to their side. Something was in there and she could sense it. Sango took note of the demon cat's apprehension and looked off in the direction she was now staring in. "Inuyasha, I think whatever it is happens to be in that forest."

"I have to agree with Sango. I can barely feel the taint in that forest, but it is there. Do you think there is a jewel shard over there?" Miroku asked. Usually this quality of taint had something to do with the shard of the jewel being used in underhanded ways.

Kikyo closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on the forest. She was still getting used to the feel of her abilities now that she was human again. The feel of the evil aura caused the hair on her arms to rise and a shiver to go down her spine. This was not a feeling she was used to anymore; before, she had been dead already and there was not really much to lose. Now, she could lose everything she had been able to gain through a miracle. "Inuyasha, I sense three shards of the jewel. To have that many whoever it is must be working for Naraku," she stated.

"That's enough for me," Inuyasha grinned wickedly as he pulled out a transformed Tetsusaiga and let the dull end rest upon his shoulder.

Kikyo watched the cocky Inuyasha march towards the forest without a care in the world. She sighed and wondered how he had not been killed yet. "Inuyasha, should we not have a plan before we go in there?"

He turned his head to look back at her, "Yeah, I got a plan. We go in, kill whatever is working for Naraku and take the shards. How does that sound?" Inuyasha knew that his response would probably rile her up a bit. Small paybacks were so worth it.

Kikyo huffed and watched as Inuyasha rushed into the forest. _He is going to get us all killed! _She watched the others hop on the back of the transformed cat and head in the direction Inuyasha had gone. Of course she followed on foot and try as she might she was still not as fast as the others. By the time she got to the forest she could hear yelling in the background. It sounded like Miroku.

Inuyasha ran off from the now irritated woman and entered the forest. It reeked of the miasma that usually clung around Naraku; though, he doubted Naraku would be making an appearance in this fight. Of course, the poisonous insects were around the area to hinder Miroku's wind tunnel. The same old tricks that he had every single time. It really was getting quite old now that he thought about it. Without fail there was always that damn buzzing in the background.

"Come along, Inuyasha…we're going to have some fun!" a female voice said from the dark.

"Yes, a lot of fun," added a male voice trying to irritate the half demon that had entered the forest most willingly.

Inuyasha sniffed the air and noticed that there were indeed two different scents. "Why don't you come out and get the fun started!" he yelled as he ran farther in, not even caring if the group was close behind or not.

"Now, now little half demon, all in good time," the female voice spoke from a distance.

He could smell them all around the area which meant they had taken their time to make sure their scents were everywhere. Inuyasha's ears twitched as he headed farther in and noticed that he was starting to have to climb a rather steep hill within the forest. _Where are they leading me?_

Sango and Miroku were riding on Kilala with Shippo above the trees and were watching the white haired half demon running up a very large hill. Kilala hissed suddenly as she ran into a barrier that singed her fur and nearly jarred her passengers off of her. She tried to push through again only to meet the same conclusion; as such, she flew down to the wooded trees and let Sango and Miroku off. "Stay here and guard Shippo!" Sango yelled as she and Miroku ran through the barrier and into the forest.

Kikyo continued her run through the woods and noticed Kilala and Shippo waiting impatiently at the edge of some kind of barrier. She studied the barrier for a few moments. _This barrier is neither holy nor is it demonic. It must be some kind of magic…but where is the source? _"Did Inuyasha go through this barrier?" she asked, looking at the young fox demon. She still was not sure about Shippo as her entire life revolved around killing demons; but, he seemed harmless enough if he took comfort from humans.

"Yeah, I guess so. Sango and Miroku went through too but Kilala couldn't so they told us to stay here," he muttered as he crossed his arms, clearly a very unhappy fox. Shippo was in no way happy to be left behind during a battle since he had already proven himself by being in the midst of so many others. _This just isn't fair!_

"Shippo," Kikyo started, "it is important that you stay here. As everyone has blindly rushed ahead there might be an attack from the rear. As such, we need you to keep a look out. Be sure to come and warn us if there are any other dangers. Kilala, continue to guard him." She knew the poor little fox was upset about being left behind and as no one else thought about it she gave him a job, one that he obviously needed. The demon had pride already she noticed as Shippo's chest puffed up.

"I won't let you down!" Shippo stated as he started to march around the area within Kilala's sight.

As Kikyo continued her journey through the forest she could already hear the sounds of battle in the background. From the sounds of it they were having a difficult time with the current enemy. _No, enemies…I can sense two of them if those insects do not count. _She could clearly see the wasps within the trees. A very clever spot for them to be as she would have to waste many arrows to the majority of them and even then from what she gathered one was all it took for the monk to be poisoned horribly.

A short amount of time later she broke through the trees and into a clearing that sat perfectly atop this hill. Had the fight not been taking place it would have been a wonderful places to rest. As she looked around she noticed the slayer and monk were not very useful in the fight except as sometimes a random target to break the boredom. Two practically identical hawk demons had taken to the skies and were unleashing feather attacks upon the group down below. The only that stood any chances was Inuyasha who could jump to the level they were standing at. Given the tattered shirt it would appear he had tried and paid the price of leaving himself vulnerable on the fall down.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango cried out as she threw the large bone weapon up towards the sky. A pointless move Kikyo noted as the birds had plenty of time to move out of the way and sent feather attacks there way once again.

"SANGO!" Miroku cried out and moved to stand in front of her, staff held in a defensive position. He took the blast well enough but his stamina was starting to run out.

The two demons looked down up the group and laughed. "What is the matter Inuyasha, is your group so incompetent that you can't even land a single hit?" They laughed in unison as the half demon growled at them.

Inuyasha growled even louder at the laughter, "Get down here you cowards!" He tried jumping up again and swung his sword, only to be met by the cackling laughter.

"TWIN BLADE FEATHERS!" they yelled in unison as green and purple feathers danced across the sky towards Inuyasha, who blocked them with the Tetsusaiga though they could tell it had still injured him a little and had even torn a bit of his haori.

Miroku looked around the trees and noticed that the buzzing was still there, a constant reminder that his play in the battle was going to be very hindered. "Inuyasha, is there any way we can bring them down here?"

Inuyasha replied with a semi glare, "I would have done it already if I knew a way!" _How stupid does he think I am?_

Kikyo fired a sacred arrow towards the pair of demons to see just how fast they were and to try and get an attack in while they were focused on Inuyasha. The good thing was the blast of the sacred arrow was enough to start to singe their skin but she could not strike far enough into the air to do any major damage. _While they have the height advantage striking them will be nearly impossible. There has to be a way to strike at them; but, they never come down from where they are._

Inuyasha glared at the demons as they dodged even Kikyo's arrow. It was then that an idea struck him as the demons started to prepare a new attack. This one was going to be by far worse than the previous attacks though he did not know by how much.

"Kikyo, I have an idea," he yelled over at her and jumped to be by her side. "You have to get on my back!" He moved in front of her so she could hop on.

Kikyo glared at his back. _Surely he cannot be serious!_ "Inuyasha, you cannot believe I would do such a thing after all this time." It was then that she felt the gathering of demonic energy coming from the two demons above them. They were standing in the air some distance above them each glowing in their own particular aura. The energy was immense and she knew that should they strike at least one of them would be gravely wounded.

"Kikyo, hop on and when I say to, fire your arrow at them," he instructed. He noticed her resistance still and growled in frustration. "Damn it Kikyo, TRUST ME!" Inuyasha yelled at her.

She would later tell herself that the only reason she hopped onto his back was the fact that he had yelled and shocked her beyond the ability to think straight. With her firmly settled on his back, he made a running jump at the demons far in the sky.

At that same moment, the winds swirled around the pair and as they screamed out, "FEATHER FURY!"

"Oh yeah," Inuyasha yelled at them as the massive energy blast came his direction. With the swirling winds and the attack he had finally found his mark. "Take this! BACKLASH WAVE!" he yelled as he swung the sword and just as the energy would have taken them out, it was sent back at the enemy demons who wore a mask of shock. "Now Kikyo!" he screamed.

Kikyo took aim in the direction the attack was now going and unleashed her purifying energies through the arrow that she fired. She heard the screams of the demons and felt her senses tell her that they were gone from this world and the jewel shards fell from the sky just above them. Luckily for them, it happened so close that Kikyo was able to thwart any attempts the demon wasps made to gather the shards before the group could claim them.

After wounds were checked over, Shippo and Kilala gathered, and camp was made, Inuyasha watched as his companion ate and started to go to sleep. Sango was next to the fire lying down with Shippo and Kilala, Miroku was about ten feet away due to much smacking from Sango, and Kikyo was leaning against a nearby tree. He listened to their heart rates and noticed that all but Kikyo and himself were fast asleep. He was about to jump to a tree but before he did, his back remaining to face her, Inuyasha turned his head to look at her over his shoulder and said something she would not be able to forget. "Thank you for trusting me Kikyo."


End file.
